


Episode 1-06 - "Father Figures"

by stgjr



Series: Undiscovered Frontier Season 1 - "Seeking the Past" [6]
Category: Multi-Fandom, Space Opera - Fandom, The Pretender (TV)
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse, Space Opera
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-17
Updated: 2017-03-20
Packaged: 2018-10-06 18:21:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10341570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: Zack is called home during the New Liberty Colony's anniversary celebrations to see his ill father; Jarod returns to his homeworld to get Sydney and the others away from the Centre.





	1. Chapter 1

**Teaser**  
  
  
 _Ship's Log: 3 May 2641; ASV Aurora. Captain Robert Dale recording. I'm pleased to report that we have made orbit of New Liberty Colony, Universe H1E4, to take part in the celebration of the Colony's third anniversary. I'm looking forward to seeing old faces and catching up on how our little colony has grown over the last three years._  
  
"We've assumed the planned orbit," Locarno announced, looking up from his board. On the holoviewer the planet was stationary below them, the lights of the New Liberty Colony visible with the dawn just starting to touch them. Several other starships were visible on the screen. "I've never seen so much traffic here before."  
  
"It's a growing colony." Robert stood from the command chair. "Okay everyone, I know you're eager for some real shore leave. Commander Andreys is drawing up the rotation for the duration of the visit, you know she'll do her best to accommodate having everyone who wants to be there off duty when the celebrations commence. Jarod, you have the bridge, I'll be in my office."  
  
Robert walked into the office and took a seat. He eyed his tablets and the reports demanding his attention. After a moment's consideration he'd decide to tackle them... _after_ making a call. He tapped a few keys on his controls and waited for the local call to go through. A familiar face popped upon the screen. "Hello Beth," he said, grinning.  
  
Elizabeth "Beth" Rankin, his cousin, smiled back at him from her own desk. " _Well there you are. I'm glad you could make it this year, Rob._ "  
  
"Oh, it'll be the day when I can't," he vowed.  
  
" _Don't make promises you can't keep,_ " she warned. " _Since this is the first anniversary after the UAS officially started we're hoping to make it a big event. Maybe even a parade. Are you up to manning a float?_ "  
  
"Oh, uh... a parade float, really?"  
  
" _Quite a few people have been trying to make a likeness of the_ Aurora _for it_ ," Beth told him. " _It'll be fun._."  
  
"I suppose."  
  
" _We've even got guests from Earth for the celebration._ "  
  
At that Robert nodded slowly. "Yeah, I heard relations were starting to go well."  
  
" _We already have a starliner running a daily route to Earth,_ " Beth said, smiling. " _It's bringing us some new immigrants and plenty of tourists. It's been a bit of a headache for me, of course._ "  
  
"I can imagine." Robert leaned in toward the image. "So, how is Gabe...?"  
  
  
  
  
Zack stood in the open square and watched the population running about. Banners were already going up to celebrate the colonial anniversary and there was a vibrant feeling in the air. He allowed himself a smile and stood outside of a kiosk selling grain snacks of some kind, run by a young African colonist.  
  
For all that he wasn't sure about the direction of his life, he had to admit to genuine pride in New Liberty. All of these thousands of people were here, living and working together from all sorts of cultures and creeds, united by their common background of having escaped suffering of one kind or another thanks to Zack and the others who had operated the Facility. At least here he knew the past three years hadn't been all a waste.  
  
The truth was, Adrana was still on his mind. The simulation he'd experienced there had haunted him over the past weeks. Not only had it re-opened a wound he thought he'd closed years ago, it had also made him realize he had thoughts he'd rather not have.  
  
He walked along the street, deep in thought, when he heard a soprano voice call out to him. Memory was already kicking in when he turned to face the origin.  
  
She was plainly-dressed, a white blouse with red flower designs on it and a matching red skirt that went almost to her knees. She was beautiful, not in the swimsuit model way but in the way dimples formed on her face when she smiled and the homey "cute girl next door" look she held. Dark hair flowed down to her shoulders and bright blue eyes drew his attention.  
  
"Zack!", she called out.  
  
He stood in astonishment. "Clara?"  
  
Clara Davis walked up to him quickly and put her arms around him. "I can't believe I found you so quickly! Everyone said you'd be here for the anniversary but..."  
  
He accepted her embrace and looked into her lovely face, brushing a lock of black hair out of it. "Clara, what are you doing here?"  
  
"Finding you, silly," she answered. "When I found out where you'd gone off to..."  
  
"How'd you find out?", he asked.  
  
"Everyone knows now, ever since the first contact," she replied. "Half the county thinks you're horrible and the other half loves you."  
  
"Which half are you?"  
  
"Do you really have to ask?" Her eyes twinkled with delight, but there was sadness in them from what Zack saw. "Zack, I came to ask you to come back home with me. Not for me, but well..."  
  
Zack had stopped dead in his tracks. "Why?"  
  
"It's your Dad, Zack. I think he's dying."  
  
  


**Undiscovered Frontier  
 _"Father Figures"_**

  
  
  


It wasn't used much, but Julia did in fact have an office. It was on Deck 3 not far at all from her quarters but she tended to do her work from the bridge or her quarters.  
  
But things were different now that she was juggling dozens of personnel schedules to make sure everyone got to enjoy the anniversary celebrations and shore leave. Even here, in a peaceful universe, the _Aurora_ still needed to be manned sufficiently and ready for action at a moment's notice. Julia let out a long sigh and moved around a couple of department heads just to realize it would conflict with a third person's requested time...  
  
The office door chimed and she called out for whomever it was to enter. She looked up from her work and saw Zack step in. "Hey Zack," Julia said in greeting. "Back up from the surface already?"  
  
"I came back to file a request," he replied. Zack found a seat. "I know my medical leave has me on light duty, but I need a couple of days off."  
  
"A couple days? Zack, the festival is in..."  
  
"Three days, yeah. I'll be back before then. It's just..." He swallowed. "Clara Davis is here."  
  
Julia looked up and stared at him. "You're kidding. Clara's all the way out here?!"  
  
"Took the shuttle, yeah. She says my Dad's in bad shape. He might not make it."  
  
"Oh." Julia nodded. "Okay. Yeah, I understand. Take all the time you need. Actually, take the _Susquehanna_."  
  
Zack stared at her. "What?"  
  
"It's no big problem, Zack. Take the _Susquehanna_ and go to Earth. It's faster than the starliner and you won't be reliant on paying for tickets." She smiled at him. "Go be with your Dad, Zack."  
  
Zack nodded. "Okay then. I'll let Clara know to save that roundtrip ticket." He leaned forward and took Julia's hand. "Thanks Julie, I owe you one."  
  
"I stopped counting years ago!", she retorted with a laugh as he went out the door.  
  
She had about five minutes of quiet time before the chime went off yet again. This time Jarod entered bearing a tablet. "Finished your part of the schedule already?"  
  
"I wanted to get it out of the way," he answered. "I would like to ask for a favor."  
  
"Go ahead," she answered.  
  
"I need a couple of days worth of leave," he said. "And a runabout."  
  
Julia stared at him for a moment. Realization came. "You want to go home."  
  
"It's been two years," Jarod pointed out. "I've put it off long enough."  
  
"So what are your plans, Jarod?"  
  
"I'm going to give Sydney and some of the others another chance to leave," he answered. "Now that I've been gone for so long I'm hoping they won't be as disbelieving."  
  
"And beaming him right onto a runabout is a pretty decisive way to convince him." Julia nodded. "Alright. I'll give you the _Rio Grande_. But only on one condition."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"I want you to take Angel and Lucy with you, Jarod." Julia shook her head. "That's not negotiable. You've told us how dangeorus these people are. I can't let you deal with them all on your own."  
  
For a moment Jarod said nothing. He finally nodded. "You're right, I'll want the backup."  
  
"Go get packed up, I'll call them."  
  
"Thank you, Julia." Jarod nodded and stepped out.  
  
Julia finished a line of paperwork and went to call Angel when the chime went off again. She let out a sigh and called for the person to enter.  
  
When Meridina entered she stood quietly before her. "Commander, I wish..."  
  
"...for a runabout, right?"  
  
That got her a quizzical look. "Um, no."  
  
"Oh." Julia felt a blush come on. "Sorry, I just saw a pattern developing."  
  
Meridina nodded. "I have been informed that a _Mastrash_ of my order has requested a tour of the _Aurora_. I have handled security arrangements but I need you and Captain Dale to give final approval." She presented a tablet.  
  
Julia took her stencil and signed it. "There you go. Which Master?"  
  
"I am unsure," Meridina replied. "The order did not say."  
  
"Well, make sure they enjoy their visit, okay?"  
  
"I will endeavor to do so." Meridina turned and stepped out.  
  
  
  
  
After getting off duty Angel tracked her sister to the science lab. Most of the science crew was off duty given they had no active assignments, giving Cat total run of the lab (granted, as Science Officer she had that anyway) and which was permitting her to do... something. "Cat, aren't you going to beam down? We're due at Carranco's by eight... twenty hundred."  
  
"I'm just finishing some final coding," Caterina answered from her station. Angel stood up beside her and looked over the display. Search string fields were full with terminology she wasn't familiar with. "Then we'll be set to go."  
  
"Coding for what?"  
  
"A search program." Cat kept typing. "Remember how the Mass Relays in M4P2 had a warning flag?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I searched the database but couldn't find _why_. And then I looked some more and realized that we've lost a lot of interconnecting data. We didn't get a full upload of the database when we had to abandon the Facility. The data gaps are bad. We need to find a way to fill them."  
  
"You mean we need to find another Darglan base."  
  
"Exactly!" Caterina smiled. "And that's the hard part! They're almost impossible to find if you don't have the right tools and know what you're looking for. What I'm doing is introducing a search pattern for the telltale traces of a dimensionally transcendental field in operation. I'm going to put it in the fleet's systems so that it'll search for any traces of these readings. That will give us an idea of where another facility might be."  
  
Angel gave her a sister a smile. "That's my clever little sis. How long will it take?"  
  
"As long as it needs to. Every networked sensor in the Alliance will be checked for results. It might take a few days for some to reply, but it'll be ongoing." Cat clapped with excitement. "Can you imagine finding another one?!"  
  
"I think I can, sis, I think I can. But right now you need to wrap this up. _Senora_ Carranco has a good meal with our name on it."  
  
"You told her Mama's old recipes, didn't you?", Cat accused, but in a nice way.  
  
"Maaaaybe."  
  
"Don't 'maybe' me, she cooks the chicken enchiladas the same way Mama did!" Cat hit a final key. "Okay, search string is out! Let's get to the transporter room!"  
  
But before they got to the door Angel's multidevice chirped. She pressed down on it. "Delgado here."  
  
" _Angel, I need to see you,_ " Julia said over the line. "I have something to ask."  
  
"Can't wait to find out," Angel sighed. "Sorry Cat, looks like you'l be enjoying Carranco's alone."  
  
  
  
  
"Rio Grande, _you are clear to depart_."  
  
The voice was that of Lieutenant Jany Palaia, a female Dorei and one of the operations officers in training. Jarod pressed down the comm key on his board. "Alright, Lieutenant. We're heading out. Firing thrusters."  
  
He ran his fingers precisely over the control panel while, beside him, Lucy Lucero busied herself with monitoring the other ship systems. Angel sat at a side station set up as tactical. Lucy was in uniform but, like Jarod, Angel had opted for "civilian" garb; both were in brown leather jackets, Jarod having chosen a plain blue T-shirt and trousers go with it while Angel had a sleeveless black shirt and loose navy blue sweatpants.  
  
The _Rio Grande_ gently lifted off from the shuttle bay floor and turned about within the clearance guideline. Jarod gently eased her out of the bay and open space before bringing her back around to above the _Aurora_ 's primary hull. " _Standby,_ Rio Grande _, jump point to A4P5 being generated... now._ "   
  
The jump point opened ahead of them, permitting the _Rio Grande_ to cross over. On the other end they found the same solar system and garden planet. Here there was no growing city and colony, only a small farming colony established a few months before the Alliance formed. The settlement was intended to support the naqia mining operation being set up on A4P5 Abdis.  
  
"Setting course for Earth, Warp 5.5." Jarod keyed in the course and fired the engines up.  
  
"Warp systems operational," Lucy confirmed. "We're good to go."  
  
With a press of a key the _Rio Grande_ made the jump to warp speed.  
  
  
  
  
Meridina was in proper blue robes, with her Stellar Navy rank insignia on the neck, when she stepped into the _swevyra_ temple that the order had founded on New Liberty. The laymen who did the chores nodded respectfully at her as she walked in measured, reserved steps to the guest office. She tried not to smile but had every expectation of facing her master and seeing him yet again. She had much to report to him.  
  
So opened the door to the office and said, " _Mastrash_..." She was quickly relieved she hadn't actually said "Ledosh".  
  
Instead of the fine lines of her master's face, she found the more wrinkled, thin cheeks and face of _Mastrash_ Karesl. She froze in place. She hadn't expected _him_ of all people. Ledosh's main political adversary, the _Mastrash_ who was arguing so hotly for the Order to keep its distance from the Alliance, who even opposed Gersallian membership in it, and now he was _here_.  
  
"Greetings, Meridina," he said warmly. "You don't seem pleased to see me."  
  
Meridina cursed to herself; she'd allowed a glimmer of disapproval to slip into her expression. "I was... simply surprised to see you here, _Mastrash_."  
  
"I imagine so." He kept his hands behind his back. "I imagine you figured Ledosh would come. He would have, but there were pressing issues back home so I came instead."  
  
"I see." Meridina kept her face carefully neutral, wondering as she did why Karesl had come.  
  
"I know my views of our Order's involvement with the new Alliance contradict your's, Meridina, but that does not mean I cannot appreciate what is being done here, or even the existence of the Alliance. I simply disagree with our place in it. Besides..." His expression softened ever so slightly. "...I will admit that I also wished to see you, daughter."  
  
Meridina stared, speechless with surprise. "You have not acknowledged me as your child for some time."  
  
"You know how it is. Once you joined the Order, you became every _Mastrash_ 's daughter," Karesl pointed out. "But that doesn't mean I stopped caring for you as my flesh and blood."  
  
"And yet you have sought to undermine everything I am trying to accomplish."  
  
Karesl drew in a sigh. "If only you had become a student of Iladira. She would have put your energies to greater use. Ledosh has led you into embracing his obsessions."  
  
"I have no obsessions, Father. I have convictions only. They tell me that Ledosh is correct."  
  
"And as you are not merely my daughter but your mother's as well, you will hold to those convictions no matter what else may come." He stepped up and put a hand on her shoulder. "I am proud of you for that. I simply wish it was for a better cause. Regardless, I would be interested in meeting these Humans you are now so devoted to. I believe your ship has quartering available for dignitaries, yes?"  
  
Meridina swallowed. _Mastrash_ Karesl, on the _Aurora_? There was something going on here, she was sure of it. But he was still a _Mastrash_ , he had the right to inquire. "I shall speak to Commander Andreys about arranging quartering for you aboard _Aurora_ ," she replied. "Is there anything else?"  
  
"Nothing for the moment. I will be ready for whenever you have made the arrangements. _Mi rake sa sweyvra iso_ , Meridina."  
  
" _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ ," Meridina replied. She bowed respectfully and went out the door.  
  
The tour she had been looking forward to overseeing was now something she wished she could prevent.  
  
  
  
  
The streaks of warp space zoomed by the cockpit windows of the _Susquehanna_ , providing much delight to Clara as Zack kept his eyes on the controls. "And you can fly this by yourself?"  
  
"Yeah. It's made for one pilot in a pinch, but only if all I'm doing is flying. Anything more and I'd need a crew." Zack looked away from the board. "What's wrong with Dad?"  
  
"He's got a number of symptoms that indicate he's going into liver failure," Clara answered. "And his heart has started to have an irregular beat."  
  
"Is he in the hospital?"  
  
"No, home care is all he can afford." Clara smiled weakly. "I'm one of the nurses assigned to his case."  
  
Zack reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "So you became a nurse? Great, that's great Clara. You've always had the right personality for it."  
  
"Thank you." Clara looked at him while he went back to work on the board. "You're different out here. You seem a little more stable."  
  
"Not all of that is true," he replied. "I just have responsibilities now. Things that keep my mind occupied."  
  
"Maybe, but I know you love it out here," Clara pointed out.  
  
"Well, yeah, I do. I just wish I had someone to share it with."  
  
Clara nodded. "So you're still looking."  
  
"Yeah, I am."  
  
"Good luck," she said, rounding out the conversation.  
  
  
  
  
After spending part of the trip in silence, Lucy spoke up first. "So... this guy you're going to talk to... he was your mentor, right?"  
  
Jarod didn't turn his head from where he was focusing on the board. Thoughts clearly stirred within. "He was the closest thing I had to a father," he said.  
  
"Given what you've said, he was a jerk working for the people keeping you prisoner," Angel remarked.  
  
That made Jarod turn to face her, looking rather irritated. "He cared for me in a way no one else has." After a moment, Jarod amended, "Until I met you, at least."  
  
"I'd hope we showed how much we care," Angel said. She took a drink from her mug. "I think we picked that up from Rob's parents. I mean, they made every one of us feel like family when we were around, especially after..." She remained silent for a moment. "I'm the lucky one, I guess. Cat was so little she doesn't remember Papa. And our Mom worked herself to death to care for us."  
  
"They should call us the Orphan crew, I guess," Jarod remarked drolly.  
  
"Well, mostly. Zack's Dad is still alive. Which shows there's not much fairness in the world, Old Man Carrey is a piece of crap. Zack is tolerable because he _doesn't_ take off of his old man," Angel remarked.  
  
"Only 'tolerable', Angela?", Lucy asked, smirking.  
  
"If I say more and he finds out about it, I'd have to beat him up again to put him back in line," Angel joked. "Best to let him believe he only has my toleration."  
  
"Ha!" Jarod let out a laugh.  
  
Not for the first time, he pondered how lucky he was that this group of people adopted him like they did.  
  
  
  
  
Julia was in the Lookout enjoying her dinner for the night, fresh off her shift, when Meridina found her. "So, anything else on that tour you talked about?", she asked.  
  
"Yes," Meridina replied. "I need to arrange a stateroom."  
  
Julia nodded. "We've got some open on Deck 4." She looked at Meridina with an expression of interest, eyes narrowed. "You sound a little off."  
  
Meridina remained stoic. "I suppose... Commander, I would speak on this, but not here? It is... private."  
  
"Okay." She nodded to Albert. "Give Hargert my thumbs up for me. I'm going to finish in my quarters."  
  
Albert nodded and went back to waiting on a couple of Ensigns from Science and Operations.  
  
With her plate - a remnant of dinner sausage, carrots, and greens - in hand, Julia followed Meridina out of the lookout and to the nearest lift. When it closed, Julia said, "Deck 3, Section A." The lift began moving through the ship's tubes. "Okay, so what's wrong?"  
  
"The _Mastrash_ who came is not who I thought it would be," Meridina answered. "I had anticipated my mentor and teacher Ledosh."  
  
"I remember him. Nice guy. A shame he's not the one who's coming."  
  
"Agreed. Instead we have Karesl." Meridina let down her guard enough to show her concern.  
  
"I don't think I remember that one..."  
  
"He.... not here." The turbolift doors were already opening. They emerged into the corridors. Meridina's quarters were almost as close as Julia's, but Meridina followed Julia in the opposite direction. They passed Scotty's quarters and Jarod's before finding Julia's. Inside Julia had arranged the XO Cabin to her liking. It was spacious enough; the door opened into a room that was part personal office space - complete with personal desk - and part living area. One wall had a display screen while the wall behind the desk had a replicator. A divider to the left led to the bedroom and shower beyond. Julia had set up shelves with mementos of her life. Martial arts trophies adorned one shelf, basketball-related ones another, as well as academics. It was a reminder to Meridina of the combination of physical and mental strength that Julia enjoyed. Pictures of her friends and her late family were placed here and there.  
  
Julia set the dish down on her desk and said, "Computer, secure door." The door slid close behind Meridina and locked. "Okay, if this makes you feel better... what about this... Carousel?"  
  
Meridina let out an involuntary laugh. She'd learned what a "Carousel" was to Humans and found it amusing that her father's name sounded so similar. "Kar-eh-sal," she clarified, a smile on her face. Julia found her smile pleasant but surprising. "He is a respected _Mastrash_ but he... I think you need to understand that my people and my Order are not entirely satisfied with the Alliance."  
  
Julia folded her arms and didn't show any reaction. She figured everyone probably had a group or two who didn't like the Alliance in some way. "Oh?"  
  
"Karesl belongs to a... side of our Order who believe that our people must stand apart from others. They do not object to friendship and cooperation - at least most don't - but they believe joining the Alliance to be an error. They think our people should have remained outside of the Alliance. And inside the Order this faction opposes any link to the Alliance government."  
  
"I see. And I'm guessing that includes you?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
Julia nodded. "And now this guy wants a tour of our ship. Is there some kind of angle here?"  
  
"I am unsure. He says he wishes to see more of the Alliance." Briefly Meridina weighed telling Julia about her familial link, but decided not to. "Or he could seek information that might be of use in the debate. How we treat him will play a part."  
  
"Well, I guess we'll have to be on best behavior." Julia let out a sigh. "I'll arrange a tour and let Rob know. Anything else?"  
  
"That should be it."  
  
"Okay. I'll let you know when the quarters are ready for Master Carousel."  
  
Meridina forced herself not to grin at Julia's possibly-intentional mispronunciation of Karesl's name. She nodded and gave thanks before leaving.  
  
  
  
  
Even though it was early morning for Zack by _Aurora_ 's time, it was noon locally when the _Susquehanna_ landed beside his old family home. It was one of a few houses set up on an old field that was being left fallow due to a combination of soil depletion and agricultural price-sustaining policy. Zack looked at the house, painted brown and dark yellow, and tried to bury his thoughts on returning after so long.  
  
 _Dad's dying._ It was hard for him to think about it. Partly because it seemed like it would never happen. Partly because, deep down, he knew that at times he wanted it to happen.  
  
Which, of course, was why he didn't want to think about it.  
  
Clara took the lead in walking up. "He should be awake right now," she said. "It's best if we don't excite him, I don't think his heart can take much strain."  
  
"I'll do my best," Zack promised, even if wasn't sure it would work.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Clara said, trying to be comforting. "It'll be alright."  
  
Zack sighed, gathering courage. "Okay, let's go see Dad."  
  
Clara took out the key to the door and unlocked it. They entered into the front hall of the house, the garage to one side and a walk-in closet to the other. The living room was ahead with Clara leading Zack into it. He noticed the interior was still dark blue; at least his Dad hadn't repainted.  
  
"Mister Carrey?"  
  
There was a grumble from the living room that Zack was oh so familiar with. "Thought you were taking the week off," a gruff male voice remarked. Not gruff from any natural gruffness either, but rather from a set of vocal cords used to screaming despite a rather higher voice than the owner wished he had.  
  
"I was. But I brought someone here to see you."  
  
At that invitation, Zack walked into the living room. He kept his spine straight and his hands at his sides, conscious of the fact he was still in uniform. His eyes settled on his father.  
  
Gerald Carrey had once, long ago, had Zachary's build. But he'd lost it from age and too much drink. Yet Zack was still surprised at his father's appearance. He'd lost his beer gut and at least half of his body mass in the past few years. His hair had gone entirely gray and looked like it was thinning on top. His brown eyes were bloodshot and looked strained. He focused them on Zack and made a noise in his throat. "I'll be damned. You finally came crawling back to see how I'm doing. And just what is that monkey suit you're wearing, boy?"  
  
"My uniform," Zack answered, trying to keep his voice emotionally level.  
  
"Oh yeah? Red and black? What are you, a damned Mountie or something?" Gerald snorted. "I heard somethin' about you and your friends running off and doing crazy stuff. Guess it was right. I knew your mom was wrong for letting you mix up with those Dale folk."  
  
"They're my friends." _And Rob's father treated me far better than you ever did._  
  
"Still pining for that blonde?"  
  
His father's question went right to the opened wound in his heart. Zack grimaced before he forced his face to be neutral again. "It's not going to happen and I've accepted that."  
  
That prompted a harsh laugh. Gerald reached for a glass of water and drank from it. "No guts. You never show any guts. You just follow your 'friends' like a damn lost puppy instead of going out and doing your own thing."  
  
Something snapped in Zack's head. "I _was_ doing my own thing," he growled. "And then I had to stop _because of you_."  
  
"You quit instead of helping your old man out," Gerald accused.  
  
"Your bookie was trying to make me throw games, Dad!", Zack shouted. He noticed Clara's surprised look and remembered that not many people had been told. "Do you remember that?! Or were you too _drunk_ to remember anything?!"  
  
Gerald's nostrils flared. "Still no respect. No respect for what I did to give you a roof over your head and food in your belly!"  
  
" _Mom_ did that," Zack retorted. "She worked herself to death, all you did was jump jobs whenever you got yourself too damn drunk to go to work!"  
  
"I wish... I wish..." Gerald's face went from fury to pain as he clutched at his chest with his right hand.  
  
Clara ran to a container near his chair, a spare set of medical instruments. She pressed the stethoscope to his chest. "His heart rate is too elevated." Clara reached for a bottle. "You've got to rest, Mister Carrey. Please."  
  
"Sure...", he wheezed. He continued to glare at Zack. "I'll rest..."  
  
Zack nodded and walked off, heading to his old room near the back of the house. His father had turned it into a junk room with old family things in it. He found an old chair, cleared some boxes off of it, and sat down.  
  
It took everything he had to control the tears that threatened to flow.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is called home during the New Liberty Colony's anniversary celebrations to see his ill father; Jarod returns to his homeworld to get Sydney and the others away from the Centre.

The _Rio Grande_ maintained a low orbit over the north pole. Lucy stifled a yawn and checked her board again, making sure their emissions were not visible to Earth-based scanners. That left the naked eye, requiring her to ensure their course kept them out of the vision range of local satellites.  
  
There was movement behind her joined by a yawn. "How did the night go?", Angel asked.  
  
"Quiet and boring."  
  
"You could use the auto-pilot," Angel reminded her.  
  
"No, i don't feel right doing that. Too much that could go wrong." Lucy yawned. "Any idea what the plan is?"  
  
"Jarod wanted to sleep on it." Angel appeared at her side, a cup of coffee in her hand. "Here."  
  
Lucy accepted it and took a quick swig. A fiercely bitter taste attacked her taste buds, forcing her to swallow the coffee swiftly. "Eww?! What is this?!"  
  
" _Raktajino_ ," Angel replied. "Klingon coffee."  
  
"Oh _of course_. I should have known someone like you would go for this stuff." Lucy's face curled into a disgusted look. "The DS9 staff forced this stuff on me when we were there."  
  
"It woke you up, didn't it?", Angel retorted.  
  
From behind them Jarod called out, "Good morning." They turned in their chairs to see him step up into the cockpit and take a seat at a station on the starboard side. He began running a scan. "Angel, are you up for some field work?"  
  
"I figured that was why I was here," she remarked.  
  
"I need someone to approach Sydney with a message from me," he said. "They'll have his home watched and his phones bugged."  
  
"And so I get to be the errand girl." Angel crossed her arms.  
  
"You are supposed to watch my back," Jarod teased. "I'll need you there when Sydney makes contact."  
  
"Alright, fine. I'll do it. Just how do you want me to...?"  
  
  
  
  
Angel stepped up to the door of Sydney's home and knocked, ignoring everything else around her. " _Still nobody suspicious on sensors_ ," Lucy reported.  
  
"Thanks," she murmured back just before the door opened.  
  
She'd never seen Sydney before. The older man directed his brown eyes at her face, carefully examining her. "May I help you?", he asked.  
  
Jarod had told her not to say anything, just to hand him the note. She did so. Sydney looked it over. "Down the street, take the third right, you can't miss it," Sydney said loudly, following the instructions in the note. Angel nodded and left. She walked a distance down the road before Jarod pulled up in a blue sedan they had rented using replicated money. "Okay, what next?'  
  
"We wait," Jarod replied. He was behind a disguise that made him look like a thinner and older man, actually making Angel think of Clint Eastwood of all things. He tapped the holo-emitter on his belt. "How well is it working?"  
  
"Well enough," she answered.  
  
He nodded and put the car into motion. They drove the same route Sydney had, passing the store his directions had been for and pulling up to a diner. They went in and Jarod took a seat at a corner table away from the windows while Angel sat nearby at the diner's counter, ordering a milkshake and light breakfast to not seem too out of place.  
  
After about half an hour, during which both finished their breakfast meals, Sydney walked in. He pulled off ihs coat and held it in his arm as he walked up to the booth. He stared at Jarod intently. "I had anticipated a friend being at this seat."  
  
"Hello Sydney," Jarod answered. "It's me." His voice went through unfiltered.  
  
" _Jarod_?", Sydney asked, incredulous. "How do you look so..."  
  
"Holographic disguise." Jarod glanced around and, seeing nobody was looking his way, briefly turned off the holo-emitter. After Sydney had a chance to see it was really him he turned it back on. "So, let's talk."  
  
"Jarod, I...." Sydney seemed to be struggling for words. "How did you get something like that? Where have you _been_?"  
  
"I told you, I found somewhere new to go, far beyond the Centre's reach," Jarod answered. "I finally had the time to come back."  
  
"For me," Sydney answered for him. "You came back for me."  
  
"For everyone. Nicholas, Angelo, Broots and his daughter." Jarod smiled. "Even Miss Parker, if she'll come."  
  
"Things have changed since you left, Jarod." Sydney's voice was hoarse. "Raines is losing control. The Triumvirate is threatening to purge our entire office. They're _convinced_ we have a traitor who's keeping you off the radar."  
  
"Then it's a good thing I came back, we can get you all out."  
  
"Jarod, I can't," Sydney pleaded. "They've got Nicholas, Jarod."  
  
That prompted Jarod to go quiet. "What?"  
  
"Nicholas and Broots' daughter Debbie are being held in safehouses by Centre field operatives," Sydney explained. "THey think we need the incentive to find you. We're already running out of time and if they find out you've come back..."  
  
Jarod digested the news quietly. "So we need to do something about that. Do you know where they're held?"  
  
"No," Sydney answered. "They won't tell us. We only get to speak over phone or online video link. They're very careful in hiding the locations from us."  
  
"I see. It looks like we've got some work..."  
  
"Jarod, look."  
  
Angel's hissed warning made Jarod look behind Sydney toward the door. Two men entered. They were very plain-looking men with heavy coats who just looked like they were getting breakfast for the morning. But their eyes were moving a little too quickly for that, and when those coats didn't come off despite the heating in the restaurant it was clear they had something hidden beneath.  
  
"Damn. I thought we'd have more time," Jarod muttered. "Sydney, go back to the office. We'll get Nicholas out, I promise. Tell Broots we'll get his daughter."  
  
"Jarod, don't..."  
  
"Sydney, trust me on this. I've got resources you can't imagine." Jarod nodded and slipped out of his chair. "Go around and out the door while we distract them."  
  
Sydney nodded even as the distraction began. Angel walked up to the men and "accidentally" brushed against one enough to pull his coat far back enough to reveal his gun. "That man has a gun!", Jarod shouted, his voice now modulated through the holo-field so it couldn't be recognized.  
  
People across the restaurant looked on at the agents while Jarod walked up, his finger pointed in accusation. "What is this, the Wild West?", he demanded. "Why are you carrying a weapon in a diner, man?!"  
  
"Hey, it's none of your business," the man retorted.  
  
"None of my business? It's my business when _armed thugs_ come into a place like this looking like Gestapo! What are you, DEA? FBI? CIA?! Out scaring normal Americans?!"  
  
While Jarod kept up the act, Sydney took the long way around through the dining area and went to the front door. Angel took advantage in her own way, reached up her sleeve and activated her own multidevice's scanning mode. She moved it over the two men from behind, letting the device scan their cell phones and copy the call logs and other bits of information.  
  
"Get out of our way," the second man demanded. "You're just a paranoid loon."  
  
"Fascist!", Jarod spat before storming between them. Angel was already at the door as he went by. Once they were outside Jarod quickly looked over to see Sydney's car pulling out. "Okay, let's park and head back up to the _Rio Grande_ ," he said to Angel. "We have some planning to do."  
  
  
  
  
Robert had little idea of what was going on besides what Julia had mentioned; Meridina was bringing one of her Order's leaders aboard for a tour and to stay a day or two. Given the rank of the visitor protocol insisted he be present for the arrival on board, particularly since the ship's current status was so quiet and he had no excuses to avoid it. Julia stood beside him, hands together in front of her. "Signal from Commander Meridina," the transporter operator, a young Russian woman, said. "They're ready."  
  
"Transport," Robert said.  
  
Meridina appeared on the transporter platform beside an older man. He looked at them with the air of someone who knew his rank and considered it a burden more than anything. "I am _Mastrash_ Karesl," he said. "I thank you for your acceptance of my request."  
  
" _Mastrash_ , welcome to the _Aurora_ ," Robert said. "Permission to come aboard is granted."  
  
"Ah yes. Your Human protocols for such, I imagine." Karesl stepped down from the platform with Meridina ever at his side. He extended his hand. "I believe the joining of hands at this level is another greeting?"  
  
"A handshake, yes." Robert accepted the hand. While they shook hands he had the uncomfortable feeling that he was being scrutinized.  
  
Karesl nodded. "An interesting custom. The same to your First Officer, yes?"  
  
"Usually."  
  
Karesl accepted Julia's handshake as well. His expression shifted ever so slightly. "A pleasure, Commander. Can you show me to my quartering on your ship? I'll only stay a single night, I promise. I just wish to see your vessel in operation given its status."  
  
Robert noticed a perceptible frown on Meridina's face.  
  
"That status is?", Julia asked.  
  
"The standard-bearer of the Allied Systems, of course," Karesl answered. "The ship with the most mixed crew, racially and nationally, of the entire fleet, with every single member of its command crew, save Meridina, being from a non-founding state? A most interesting case. I wish to see how your vessel operates."  
  
"I see. Well, I hope we don't disappoint you then."  
  
Julia led him out. Robert looked over to Meridina as she stepped forward to follow. "What's going on here, Meridina? This isn't just a curiosity visit, is it?"  
  
"It is... private, Captain," Meridina answered. "That is all I can say."  
  
"Is that why he focused on me like that? I felt like..."  
  
"Yes," she quickly answered, leaving right afterward.  
  
  
  
  
Lucy was taking the time to rest, leaving Jarod and Angel alone in the control area of the _Rio Grande_. Jarod was busying himself with work using the _Rio Grande_ 's systems, leaving Angel to do some quick monitoring of the runabout. She finished a check of the weapons systems for the tenth time and finally turned to face her older friend. "Did you expect something like this?"  
  
Jarod paused for a moment. "I considered it," he answered. "I can't believe they're that desperate though. The Centre is such a big organization that I can't imagine why they'd be so desperate to recapture me."  
  
"Guess you were more important to them than you realized."  
  
"Well, they don't take defeat well either." Jarod noticed a light on his board and checked what had caused it. He'd received a message that he had been waiting for. "Are youup for some field work?"  
  
"What kind?"  
  
"Your favorite. You'll sneak in, beat up anyone who gets in your way, and get out with a friend of mine. His name is Angelo."  
  
Angel turned and faced him. "And he is?"  
  
"He's... like me," Jarod replied. "But he's not functional enough to be a Pretender like I am. They did things to him when he was a child. They used chemicals to make him a Pretender. But there were side effects and it left him mentally and emotionally damaged."  
  
Angel frowned. "These people are real bastards," she sighed. "I'm up for it. Let me know when to go down."  
  
"It'll be soon. The timing has to be right." Jarod stood up and moved toward the replicator. "And now I need to send a message to Sydney."  
  
He replicated a slip of paper with text on it and laid it on the transporter pad. Angel watched him send it down, after which they waited quietly. Jarod's eyes focused on the transporter's control board and his hands began to move. Moments later the transporter activated and Sydney appeared on the transporter pad in a burst of light.  
  
"Hello Sydney," Jarod said. "Welcome aboard the _Rio Grande_."  
  
Sydney blinked. "Jarod? Where... I don't understand."  
  
"Matter transportation by subspace tunneling," Jarod explained. "It tingles a bit." He had a mischievous smile on his face. "I would have eased you into it if I could."  
  
Sydney stepped up and fell into one of the port side station chairs. "This is... this is a _spaceship_ , Jarod?"  
  
"We prefer to use 'starship'," Jarod answered. "The _Rio_ is called a runabout. She's a small ship we designed for multiple uses."  
  
"'We' designed."  
  
"Yes." Jarod smirked. "It didn't take me too long to get a handle on this advanced science. Although this is really Lucy's ship."  
  
"Huh? What about my ship?" Lucy's voice was a little groggy as she stepped out from the rear cabin. By habit she was in her uniform, causing Sydney to look a little disconcerted. "Wait, who's..."  
  
"Lucy, this is Sydney. Sydney, Lucy Lucero." Feeling the weight of time, Jarod returned his attention to Sydney while the older man, ever the gentleman, exchanged a handshake with Lucy. "Sydney, did you make those calls?"  
  
"Yes, I've been promised a chance to talk to Nicholas in a few hours."  
  
"Well, I need to get started then."  
  
"Started on what?", Angel asked.  
  
"Tying Sydney's phone into the _Rio Grande_ 's comms," Jarod answered. "That way we can get a fix on their safehouse and get Nicholas out."  
  
"I don't know if Debbie is being held there as well," Sydney pointed out. "We need to be careful."  
  
"We will be. I won't do anything if she's not there as well. We'll switch to a Plan B."  
  
"So we may as well plan for Plan C then," Angel remarked.  
  
"Sydney, I'll send you back down for now," Jarod said. "But before we begin this I want to bring you back to the _Rio Grande_ , for your own safety."  
  
"Yes. It's best if I'm not clearly out without using my car." Sydney stood up. "So I am going to be... transported the same way?"  
  
"Yes. It'll be better this time," Jarod promised. "It's always easier when you get used to it."  
  
  
  
  
When Clara returned to Zack he had nodded off on his old bed. She walked up to him and woke him up with a touch to the shoulder. "He's sleeping," she murmured. "He needs the rest."  
  
"Yeah." Zack blinked sleep out of his eyes and sat up. "Has he been drinking, Clara?"  
  
"He's not supposed to," Clara said. "And we try to keep the house cleared of it. But we've found him with beer sometimes..."  
  
"Yeah. Asking Dad to give up alcohol is like asking someone to stop breathing." Zack rubbed at his eyes. Clara found the chair he'd cleared off and sat in it, directly across from him. She reached over to the bed and picked up a picture. "Your family?"  
  
"Shortly after we moved here." Zack smiled softly. His Dad's hair was brown back then while his mother had more of a chestnut color to her's. "Mom's first job was secretarial work for Allen Dale's family farm. It's how we got to know them."  
  
"Your Dad didn't like the Dales?"  
  
"They..." Zack's smile turned into a bit of a smirk. "...they were that near-perfect American farming family and he became one of the county's best-known drunks. They looked down on him a bit. He didn't like that." Zack put his hands together and rested his chin on them. "And he hated me for hanging out with Robert and the others afterward."  
  
"I knew you two didn't get along very well, but I never imagined..." Clara drew in a breath. "He really ruined your baseball career?"  
  
"Yep. If I'd played, then I'd either have to throw games for his bookie or have Dad beaten. Couldn't do either. So I quit." Zack lowered his eyes. "I quit at a lot of things, it seems. Maybe he's right. I just follow the others around."  
  
"Zack, please..."  
  
"No, it's fine. I actually enjoy where I am now. Mostly." He drew in a breath. "Do you?"  
  
"Well, yes."  
  
"Ever think about coming out into space with us?" Zack smiled. "Leo can always use an extra nurse. Or, hell, we could use one on the _Koenig_ when we're out."  
  
Clara smiled and sighed. "Was that... I mean... was that a... proposition, Zack?"  
  
"For you to join us? Sure."  
  
Zack cursed himself a moment later for not realizing she was talking about something more... private.  
  
"And us?"  
  
"What about us? We're friends."  
  
"We almost weren't", Clara reminded him.  
  
Zack swallowed. "Yeah. But, Clara, come on, that was a different life time."  
  
"Yeah." She lowered her head. "I always wondered why you let that story spread about what happened. It was so embarrassing. To you, mostly."  
  
"Seemed the right thing. I... well, Clara, I didn't want people making fun of you over it. High school could be pretty rough. I had a reputation. If it came out that we hadn't stuck together people would've been laughing at you the rest of the year."  
  
"So... you were protecting me?", Clara asked, a fake smile on her face. "You were actually worried about what kids thought of simple old Clara, the ugliest girl in school?" She couldn't quite hide the tear on her face. "It wasn't just that I wasn't good enough for you?"  
  
"Hey. No, that's not it." He shook his head. "You were plenty good enough for me. Honestly..." Zack took her hands. "You were more than I deserved, Clara. You're meant for a better guy. Someone who can give you a family, make a home with you. I'm not him. I wasn't that guy in school and, well, look at me. I'm a spaceship officer now, I'm not that guy now."  
  
"Yeah." There was a hint of disappointment in Clara's voice. But the tears weren't showing anymore. That was the important part. "So, want some dinner? We can order takeout from town."  
  
"And Dad?"  
  
"I'll get him something from his approved menu," she promised. "We can have dinner together. And this time, no fussing?"  
  
"Yeah, no fussing. I'll be the better man," Zack promised.  
  
  
  
  
Jarod was in the living area of the _Rio Grande_ when Sydney entered. "Nicholas is upset, but he's not hurt," Sydney said. He looked at Jarod with an expression of... intrigue, Jarod guessed. Jarod had switched into his action uniform, as it was known, as a just-in-case for the mission to come.  
  
"That's good. And I got the trace from the call to lock on to their location." Jarod noticed the look Sydney was giving him. "Is something on your mind, Sydney?"  
  
Sydney nodded and found a seat at the central table. "I simply find it interesting. At the Centre you were kept in a controlled environment, and you ran away from it. And now here you are, back in a controlled environment."  
  
"It's not the same thing," Jarod answered, making sure the rank insignia were placed right.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"I had a choice. I _chose_ to do this, Sydney, I didn't get forced into it as a child." Jarod gave Sydney his full attention.  
  
"And it's not just a Pretend this time. You're not playacting an occupation but holding it." Sydney leaned forward. "This is really what you want?"  
  
"Yes. I've found a place with these people. _My_ place. It's not something I'm just doing for a few days to make money or deal with someone who did something wrong."  
  
That prompted a nod from the older man. "I can't tell you how pleased I am to hear that. I've been worried for a long time about the mental effect of Pretending so much and so often. It wasn't good for you mentally."  
  
"I know." Jarod took a seat across the table from Sydney. "I felt like I had a hundred people inside my head. Now... there's only one. Jarod."  
  
"And that's it? Just 'Jarod' for the rest of your life?"  
  
"Until I find my family. I haven't given up on that."  
  
"There may be Centre records that will help you find them," Sydney said.  
  
"I know. But one thing at a time. We need to get Nick and Debbie out. And then we need to give Broots his daughter back."  
  
"And Miss Parker?"  
  
Jarod remained still for a moment. "If she'll come. I'm hoping she will. I don't think the Centre's going to be too happy when we finish this."  
  
"Agreed." Sydney leaned forward in his seat. "So, while we have the time, may I ask you for more on how your life has gone since you left us?"  
  
"Alright." Jarod sat down on the opposite end of the table. "To start out with, you haven't heard cursing until you've heard Tom Barnes..."  
  
  
  
  
"Goddammit piece of...!"  
  
The agonized ranting of Tom Barnes went ignored on the main deck of Main Engineering, much to Robert's comfort. Karesl stood quietly beside Meridina and Robert while Scotty continued his technical explanation in response to a question from Karesl. "...an' over here we have th' secondary naqia reactors..."  
  
Karesl remained quiet as the explanation continued. When it was over he smiled and nodded. "A most beneficial explanation, Commander Scott. I thank you. I won't take any more of your time." He bowed politely and Scotty gave a polite nod.  
  
"I believe our next stop would be one of the nacelles," Robert said.  
  
"I think, Captain, that the tour has lasted long enough for the day," Karesl answered. "I will retire to my guest quarters."  
  
"Certainly, _Mastrash_. The turbolifts are this way..."  
  
They walked toward the port exit. "Commander, a wee moment of yer time?", Scotty called out.  
  
They all looked back. Meridina nodded and turned to Karesl and Robert. "I shall join you when this is done."  
  
"Alright." Robert nodded and headed on.  
  
Meridina walked up to Scotty. "Yes, Commander Scott?"  
  
"Ah told ye, lass, ye dinnae have tae be formal with me," Scotty protested lightly. "We've had a few issues with th' computers, Commander." He showed a log on a nearby display. "There have been several security breaches on th' computers linked tae our engines over th' past three weeks."  
  
"I have not heard of this," Meridina said. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?"  
  
"We cannae be sure if it's actual breaches or attempts or just some bloody kid hittin' the wrong keys when runnin' system checks," Scotty answered. "Ah told Lieutenant Draynal about 'em when they happened."  
  
Meridina nodded slowly. "I see. He has not mentioned that." She pressed the comm key on her multidevice. "Meridina to Lieutenant Draynal. Please respond."  
  
After a couple of moments she received a reply. " _Draynal here._ "  
  
"Lieutenant, I've been informed by Commander Scott about computer security issues that he spoke to you of?"  
  
" _Ah yes. I have investigated personally with Ensign Liton. We believe it to be a recurring user error from one of the maintenance engineers. A report was sent to Lieutenant Barnes and Lieutenant Etps._ "  
  
"Keep an eye on it, Lieutenant. And next time I wish to be informed immediately."  
  
" _Yes sir. Draynal out._ "  
  
Meridina drew in a breath and looked to Scotty. "Mister Scott, I request your cooperation on something... delicate."  
  
"Aye?"  
  
"I want you to add at least three extra security layers to all systems relating to our drives," Meridina asked.  
  
Scotty drew in a sigh. "Aye, it can be done. But may Ah ask why?"  
  
"I... have a concern, Mister Scott. It maybe be nothing. But it's best to be prepared."  
  
"Have ye informed th' Captain or Commander Andreys?"  
  
"Not yet. I don't wish to alarm them if it's nothing. But I want precautions in place."  
  
"Aye, very well. Ah'll get started on it."  
  
  
  
  
Robert remained at the opening to the guest quarters when Karesl entered. "I hope they are to your liking, sir."  
  
"Oh, they are more than sufficient, Captain," Karesl answered. "I have a point of curiosity."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"How do you feel about Meridina?", Karesl asked. "I know you first met her at Djamar Trading Station and saw her use her gifts."  
  
"She's a valued member of the crew," Robert answered. "And I'm starting to consider her a friend."  
  
"Has she told you much about the ways of _swevyra'se_?"  
  
Robert was curious as to what was going on, but for the moment he didn't say anything beyond his simple reply of, "Just the basics. She explained them after Djamar."  
  
"I sense there is more," Karesl asked plainly. "Please, do not feel alarmed of sharing anything with me, I'm simply curious. Has she tried to talk to you about using _swevyra_ yourself?"  
  
"Not at all," Robert answered. "She did..." He stopped, but too late.  
  
"She did what, Captain?", Karesl asked.  
  
"It's... well, sir, it's something private..."  
  
"I must know, Captain," Karesl insisted, his voice taking on an edge. "You do her no harm by explaining. Hiding it, on the other hand, begs questions of why you would hide anything. Questions that may not be kind or accurate to the truth."  
  
Robert had the bad feeling he was being maneuvered, but he didn't want Meridina to get into trouble. "During our mission into the DMZ back in February, Meridina was troubled. She sensed two people being interrogated by the Cardassians. It was having an effect upon her, so I offered to share the sensation with her. She tried to talk me out of it but I insisted. And when we linked... it was powerful, more than she thought it'd be. I could feel the prisoners being tortured like it was being done to me. It wasn't a pleasant thing."  
  
Karesl listened quietly. When Robert was done he let out a breath and nodded. "You were very kind to Meridina that day, Captain," he said quietly. "The burden of feeling others' pain is a heavy one on many of our Order. I am... honored to meet a man who would help one of our's share it."  
  
"Thank you, sir. Can I help you any more?"  
  
"No. No, I think that will be all. I'll see you later for more touring."  
  
Robert nodded and stepped out of the door.  
  
Karesl barely had time to get settled before the door chimed. He could sense who it was even before calling out, "Enter!" He looked up. "Ah, child. I see you've caught up."  
  
Meridina stepped in and let the door close. "Are you enjoying the tour, _Mastrash_?"  
  
"Eminently. The command crew makes up for lack of experience with passion. At least those I have met. Your Science Officer is especially passionate in her work." Karesl smiled wistfully. "She reminds me of Gamaya."  
  
Meridina nodded. "Yes. How is Gami?"  
  
"She is well. Schooling agrees with her. Her... lack of _swevyra_ potential will not hold her back." Karesl put his hands together. "So, which one is Dale?"  
  
"Hrm?"  
  
"Is he the Leader? The Forger? The Commander?" Karesl's smile turned to one of amusement. "I suppose you believe Mister Scott to be the Builder's Teacher."  
  
Meridina remained very still. "I... have been waiting for further signs before making judgements."  
  
"Truly? Oh, my dear, i wish I could believe you. But I've known for a long time that you, like Ledosh, are convinced that these are the Bearers."  
  
"Their ship is named for the dawn. They have brought a new age to us. The Alliance is the wall, the shield of Light. It _fits_ , _Mastrash_."  
  
"And how much of that is because you want it to, Meridina?" Karesl put his hands together in front of him. "You are so eager to see the prophecy come about."  
  
"I want to see the new world of Light," Meridina answered. "Don't you?"  
  
"Meridina..." Karesl shook his head. "You trust too much in what you read. I wish I could make you understand that having the Prophecy come true may not be what you truly want."  
  
"I do not understand your opposition to this!", Meridina shouted, finally giving in to her temptation. "Why, father?! Are you jealous of Ledosh in some way? Do you not trust the Alliance?! Father, please, why do you fight us?"  
  
Karesl remained silent at his daughter's outburst. "My dear, you will know one day. And as much as you need to learn... I truly dread that day. I don't wish to see you so broken." He sighed. "I am tired, Knight. I wish for rest."  
  
"Very well, _Mastrash_. I am at your disposal." Meridina nodded and turned away to leave. She heard nothing else from her father as she stepped out. _Stupid, so stupid of me_ , she thought as she walked away from the door.  
  
  
  
  
Angel finished getting into her field uniform and double-checked the pulse pistol in the holsteron her hip. She stepped into the central living room of the runabout and found Jarod had already put the briefing material up. Sydney was at the table beside him and Lucy had found a side chair, wearing her own field uniform. "We don't have much time," Sydney warned everyone. "The Centre will realize I'm not home very quickly."  
  
"Then let's get started. Lucy?"  
  
At Jarod's question, she stood up and went over to the flatscreen monitor and the briefing material, showing an isolated house in a semi-rural area. "Our scans confirm that there are a half dozen people in the house we traced Sydney's call to."  
  
"So we just beam them up," Angel suggested. "We can screen out firearms easily."  
  
"Too risky," Jarod said, shaking his head. "If they have Debbie somewhere else and we snatch Nicholas out, they might hurt her."  
  
"So we need to verify who's there. I'm guessing you'll be doing that while I sneak into their HQ?"  
  
"That's exactly what I have in mind."  
  
"It won't be easy at all, young lady," Sydney said to Angel. "Their security is very tight, the moment you're spotted..."  
  
Angel reached down to her waist and briefly triggered her personal cloak. She shimmered out of view. A second later she turned it off. "I'm not worried about that," she remarked.  
  
"So I see." Sydney put his hands together. "What do you need me to do, Jarod?"  
  
"I need you to be at home," Jarod replied. "Get Miss Parker and Broots over so you're all in one place."  
  
"I'm still not certain Miss Parker will leave her father behind."  
  
Jarod nodded. "Yeah, but I don't think she'll have a choice, Sydney." He turned to Lucy. "Is everything ready?"  
  
"Yes," she replied.  
  
"Then let's get this started."  
  
  
  
  
Jarod beamed into the house's upstairs bathroom, the beaming noise being distant enough there that nobody would notice it. He turned on the cloak immediately and pulled out his pulse pistol. He walked out of the bathroom into the adjoining bedroom. It was an occupied bedrom, with male clothing lying about here and there. _Nicholas_ was his thought on the room's owner.  
  
Leaving the bedroom took him out to the second floor hall. He went to the stairs and moved down them as quietly as he could, hoping nobody tried to go upstairs given the lack of room. When he made it to the bottom without a problem he turned one way and found a den with a television on. It was a child's show, he could see, and that just about confirmed for him the good news. A moment's movement made it even clearer; Debbie was here with Nicholas. Sydney's son was in fact holding her in his lap as she watched the show.  
  
 _We've got them_ , Jarod thought. He keyed his comm and whispered very hoarsely into it. "They're both here. Give me a moment and I can relay..."  
  
Four men stormed into the room from the other end. One grabbed the remote from the chair leg and turned the TV off. "Get that crap off," he grumbled.  
  
"What's going on?", Nicholas asked. Debbie cried out as she was yanked from his lap. He said nothing as another man grabbed his arm and forced him to his feet.  
  
"You've been compromised," one of them said. "Your Dad's made a big mistake, and you're going to pay for it."  
  
Jarod's jaw clenched. Somehow the Centre had been tipped off about them. He just wasn't sure how.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is called home during the New Liberty Colony's anniversary celebrations to see his ill father; Jarod returns to his homeworld to get Sydney and the others away from the Centre.

Takeout turned out to be Italian. Gerald had to be satiated with salad and a light amount of pasta while Zack and Clara, to avoid enjoying themselves too greatly with the elder Carrey's limitations, took fairly small and uncomplicated pasta dinners, ziti and ravioli.  
  
With both Carreys remaining quiet Clara spoke up. "Zack, what's it like? What you do now?"  
  
"It's... well, it's exciting and fun and boring and tedious," Zack answered, ignoring his father's guffaw. "Sometimes we're fighting pirates and sometimes we're just flying through space with nothing to do but think of where we're going."  
  
"You told me you have a ship to command," Clara said, clearly for his father's benefit.  
  
Zack knew full well what she was doing, but he wanted to keep the dinner peaceful. "I'm commander of the _Koenig_. She's a tough little ship, all teeth. We built her to fight after we had a couple of ships get roughed up by aliens." Zack briefly thought back to that encounter and the resulting contact with S5T3's Federation. He'd been the one to bring the _Kirby_ into the mess in the first place.  
  
"You mean she's like a destroyer or something?", Gerald asked. "My uncle served in the War on one."  
  
"I guess. If a destroyer could have stealth. We call it a cloaking device. It makes the ship invisible to almost all sensors. And to the human eye too."  
  
"Wow." Clara's look showed she wasn't just playing along.  
  
"So you're more like a sub," Gerald said, smirking. "Hiding away and then shooting someone in the back."  
  
"They usually shoot back," Zack answered, refusing to take the bait. Instead he chose to speak more kindly. "Dad, um... would you like to come with me?"  
  
Gerald stared him in the face. "What?"  
  
"I can bring you back to get treatment. We've got some pretty damn good medical technology with us."  
  
"Ha. Yeah, that'll be the day, me goin' around in space."  
  
"Dad, I'm being serious," Zack insisted. "You're not well. You could be treated for what's wrong with you."  
  
"Then who'll take care of the house?", Gerald asked pointedly. "Maybe you forgot, going off and riding that Dale kid's coattails and pursuing that stuck up blonde, but your mom and I put _everything_ into this house. I'm not leaving it. No way in hell."  
  
"Dad, you could _die_ ," Zack growled through clenched teeth.  
  
Father and son stared at each other for a moment. "I know," Gerald admitted. "But this is my house. I worked for it. Your mom worked for it. It's _all I have left_. And so I'm gonna die in it."  
  
Zack took in a breath and tried to calm himself, to push away the hurt he felt. "And what about me? I don't get included in what you have left?"  
  
"You made it pretty damn clear where we stood."  
  
"You mean when I'd go at all hours of the night to get you beer or food?", Zack retorted. "The money I gave you to help keep the place up?"  
  
"And where have you been the last few years, huh?", Gerald demanded.  
  
"Saving lives!", Zack shouted.  
  
"Ha!" Gerald smiled maliciously and shook his head. "Be honest, boy. You did whatever Rob Dale and his cute piece of ass wanted you to do. You're not strong enough to be your own man so you follow along like you always have!"  
  
"I _had_ my own thing, Dad!", Zack shouted. "I was the best pitcher in the state! I was _the best in the league_! I was _this_ close to the majors and then oh, here comes that shyster bookie of your's to tell me to throw games because you owed him money! I had to quit or they were going to _kill you, Dad_."  
  
Gerald's jaw clenched. For a brief moment shame appeared in his expression. "I... I couldn't help it. I..."  
  
"Couldn't help it? I _begged you Dad_." Zack leaned forward at the table. "I begged you to stop drinking. And you wouldn't. And then..." Zack let out a breath and fell back into his seat. "We've had this argument so many times I don't want to bother."  
  
Gerald looked at him with sadness. "Zack.... come home. Please. Give up this space stuff and just come home. You can find work. You can go back to the leagues..."  
  
"No, I can't," Zack said hoarsely. "They know why I left. No team would risk it."  
  
"Then do something else," Gerald insisted. "But _stay_. Move on from that Julia girl, get someone nice. Like Clara here." For the first time Gerald smiled as he reached over and put his hand on Clara's. She looked bewildered at him. "This girl loves you, boy, and she'll be a better wife than Julia ever could. Doesn't she remind you of your mom?"  
  
Zack stared for a moment, his eyes going from his father to Clara's scared, bewildered face and back to his father. "Yeah," he admitted. Clara _did_ remind him of his mother. And she'd even gone in the same profession. "I guess you two have talked a lot, huh?"  
  
"I... well, I didn't.... Zack..." Clara's voice broke a little and she was suddenly intently studying her pasta.  
  
"Don't," Zack said, a little too snappishly. 'Don't. I... let's just finish dinner."  
  
Gerald shook his head sadly. "Boy, you..."  
  
"Do _not_ call me _boy_ , Father," Zack said forcefully. "I am not a child."  
  
"If you're a man, will you at least share a drink with your old man?", Gerald asked hopefully. "I've kept a bottle just for us..."  
  
"Dad, I will not touch that _poison_ you love so much." Zack tried to keep the heat and anger out of his voice. But it was a losing proposition.  
  
"Oh, don't start on this again," Gerald groaned.  
  
"No, I won't. I've learned not to bother trying. Besides, it's too late, isn't it? It's killed you. Just like it killed Mom."  
  
"Don't you dare," Gerald hissed.  
  
Zack opened his mouth and stopped before he spoke. "There's no point in this. I'm going to bed." He stood from the table and walked out of the kitchen, ignoring the look on his father's face.  
  
He made it to the bedroom door before Clara caught up to him and grabbed his arm. "Zack, _please_ ," she begged. "Don't end it like this..."  
  
"There's no point. He'll never admit he's wrong."  
  
"Just give him a chance. Please Zack, this is for both of you."  
  
"And for you." Zack actually winced a little. He hadn't meant to sound that hostile.  
  
Clara was taken aback. "Wh...what?"  
  
"What have you been saying to him, Clara?", Zack asked. "What have you said to him that you wouldn't say to my face?"  
  
Clara's lips curled into a small pout. "I... Zack, please, I just... I told him how I felt. About you, I mean. And how I thought there might be something..."  
  
"But you didn't tell me this? You just blab it to him? Give him another thing to insult me, to insult my friends?"  
  
"I didn't mean it like..."  
  
Zack bit back the response that almost came out. He put his hand to his forehead. "Clara, I'm not coming back," he said. "I'm never, ever, ever coming back to this podunk little town. I've got a life, and it involves a job beyond our wildest astronaut fantasies as kids. I'm not leaving that to be a Goddamned farmer or whatever else I'd have to do."  
  
Tears were gathering in Clara's eyes. They were already welling within Zack's as he walked through the door and slammed it shut behind him.  
  
  
  
  
Angel had been beamed into a janitor's closet. Worse yet, a locked one that forced her to blast the lock with her pistol. She moved out from there to the darkened corridors of the facility. It certainly looked, to her, like the lair of an evil conspiracy.  
  
Or at least it did until she found the main halls. Now it looked like a general office building. She moved carefully, not wanting any sounds of her footfalls to make people realize there was someone walking through. She double-checked the map Sydney and Jarod had provided and made her way toward the wing where Angelo was supposed to meet her with all the speed she could.  
  
A noise came to her ear and her commline went active. " _Angel, this is Lucy. They're tipped off, Angel. Jarod will deal with them at the safehouse but you've got to move fast._ "  
  
"Roger," she whispered. She moved on, picking up her pace at the expense of stealth. She started to hear things in the distance, indications that were familiar; the sound of fists striking flesh or clothing.  
  
She found a room where four armed men were standing around, wearing dark suits and looking like errant government agents of some sort. A single man, with reddish-brown hair, was doubled over beside a desk as a fifth stood over him. "We know you're working with Jarod," the man said. "Mister Raines isn't very happy with you, Angelo. You know what Mister Raines is like when he's not happy."  
  
He punched Angelo again.  
  
Once upon a time Angel might have just started punching. But she was more responsible now. The training she'd gotten in the year leading up to the founding of the Allied Systems had made her begin to thank tactically about these things. As much as she wanted to feel the bastard's nose smash against her fist, she had to take them all down quickly before someone started shooting.  
  
She brought her pulse pistol up, set it to stun, and promptly began to shoot them.  
  
For about five seconds chaos rained. To the eyes of the men in the Centre, azure bolts erupted out of nowhere, slamming into their chests and causing them to lose consciousness from the shock to their systems. Guns came out of course, but they were trained men; they weren't going to discharge their firearm without a solid target.  
  
And so they fell, one by one.  
  
When the shooting was over Angel turned off her cloak and knelt down to help Angelo up. "Angelo, right?"  
  
"That's me," he answered. The way he spoke the words and the almost confused look on his face were just what Angel had expected given Jarod's comments on him. "You are Jarod's friend?"  
  
"Yes, I am."  
  
"I'm his friend too. I'm supposed to put something on the computer. But they found me." Angelo motioned to the computer in the room. "Computer is locked. I have to go to the big computer room now."  
  
"I see." Angel sighed and nodded. "Okay, go. I'll be right behind you and invisible, okay? And then we'll take you somewhere and get you fixed up."  
  
"Okay." Angelo nodded and began walking on, a little too slowly for Angel's liking. She tapped her multidevice. "Lucy, we've had a complication."  
  
" _You're not the only one..._ "  
  
  
  
  
With no options left, Jarod pulled up his pulse pistol and fired. Stun-level bolts struck the man lifting Debbie first. As he fell over with her, he brought the weapon over and shot the man taking Nicholas. "Lucy, prepare for beamout, now!"  
  
More of the men entered, weapons raised. Jarod fired off another pair of shots, taking two out quickly. He shot down the third before he could fire.  
  
Another figure rolled along the floor, using the couch as cover, and snatched up Debbie with his free arm. A gun came up to her temple. Jarod turned and recognized the face of Lyle. "I know you're here somewhere, Jarod!", Lyle called out, holding his gun up to her temple. "Come out! Do it now or I'll pull the trigger. You know I will!"  
  
Jarod frowned and reached over to his multidevice, using it to turn the cloak off. Everyone stared in wonder as he shimmered into view. "Reduced to guard duty, Lyle?"  
  
Lyle took a moment to recover from Jarod appearing out of thin air. "You don't think we noticed Sydney going around this morning, Jarod? The old man can't do anything without the Triumvirate knowing. We knew he'd lead us to you eventually." Lyle smirked a little. "Now this is how it's going to be. You're coming with me back to the Centre. No heroics or the girl dies. Do you understand?"  
  
"I have a better idea," Jarod answered. "Lucy, _now_."  
  
The _Rio Grande_ 's transporter snatched them all away. They materialized in the cabin area of the runabout. When Lyle finished materializing he looked down at his now-empty hand by Debbie's head. He barely had the time to form the word "Hey" before Debbie twisted away from him. Jarod leveled his gun back at Lyle, who remained still and stared at his empty hand. "Where...?"  
  
Lucy stepped through the door leading to the cockpit and faced them. "Did I get everyone?"  
  
"You got everyone, Lucy," Jarod answered. He turned toward her. "And one unwanted guest. Now we have to figure out what we're going to do with..."  
  
For all his surprise, Lyle was still good at what he usually did. Seeing all eyes were turned away from him and that the distance between him and Jarod wasn't too great he raced forward and grabbed Jarod's arm. Jarod cried out as Lyle shifted around and gained the leverage he needed to wrench the pulse pistol from Jarod's hand and into his own. Nicholas jumped toward Lyle and took a foot to the throat. Lucy lunged at him immediately, knocking him off balance. Lyle's arm shifted and his elbow slammed into her solar plexus, taking her out of the fight momentarily. He turned back to Nicholas long enough to shoot him before he could attack again, a solid blow to Nicholas' center of mass that sent him down. Jarod recovered enough to make a grab, but Lyle was quick in hooking his foot to trip Jarod up and cause his lunge to go off target.  
  
Debbie stood throughout the encounter, frozen in fear, and was unable to make any move to prevent Lyle from grabbing her and putting Jarod's pistol to her forehead. "Now, I don't know how the hell we got here," Lyle rasped, "but I'm not playing any of your games, Jarod. You're going back to the Centre, and you're going to have a very long and unpleasant debriefing, and if _anyone tries anything I shoot the girl in the head, okay?!_ "  
  
Everyone froze in place.  
  
"So much for being the super-genius," Lyle added as a taunt. "You're mine. And I'm going to enjoy every moment of this."  
  
  
  
  
Sleep eluded Zack as the night dragged on. The conflict in his heart refused to die down. His dad was dying, why couldn't they just get along? Why wouldn't he _listen_? Why did he have to be so stubborn?!  
  
It was late into the night when Zack heard the door creak open. Someone gently moved the boxes on the nearby extra kitchen chair kept in the room and sat down in it. He trned in the bed. "Dad?", he asked.  
  
Gerald sat quietly for a moment. In his hand was an unopened bottle of tequila, one of the best brands. He set it to the side. "I always thought one day we could have a drink from this together. Not for getting drunk, just... my boy all grown up, drinking with me like a man." He made a harrumph sound. "A stupid old dream, I guess."  
  
Zack sat up in the bed. "No, not stupid. It's just..."  
  
"You don't have to say it." Gerald shook his head. "I've been a lousy father. No, don't." He held up a hand as Zack went to, even now, instinctively deny that. "I've been lousy and I know it. I let the drink get to me. I drove your mother away and it killed her. And then that just made me drink more. It... it felt like it made the pain go away. Clara tells me I'm wrong about that, that alcohol makes you more depressed. I'm guessing that it just made me so drunk that I couldn't _think_ about it, depressed or not."  
  
"That's usually how it works." Zack lowered his head. "Dad, I'm sorry..."  
  
"Not as sorry as me," Gerald replied. "I've had years to think about it, how I drove you away like I did your Mother. And that whole business with Sloane when you were a ballplayer... my God, Zack, I don't think I can ever be forgiven. I ruined your life. It took an act of God to put you on a track again."  
  
"Doesn't always feel that way," Zack murmured. "I never feel sure about what I'm going to do."  
  
"Even with everything you've got now?" Gerald chuckled. "Damnedest thing is, I grew up wanting to be an astronaut. I wanted to go to the Moon like Neil Armstrong."  
  
"Heh. I just wanted to pitch in the World Series." Zack rubbed his eyes, feeling some sleepiness. Said sleepiness is why it took so long for the thought now circulating in his head to come out. "You want to go to the Moon, Dad?"  
  
Gerald looked at him with curiosity. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I can take you. Right now." Zack smiled at his father. "We can be there within an hour."  
  
Gerald stared at him. His eyes showed some conflict going on in his head. "I don't know, Zack. I'm a bit too old for rocking around like that."  
  
"Dad, it'll be smoother than a car ride," Zack promised. "You won't feel a thing."  
  
He got another incredulous look for that. "You're serious?"  
  
"Very." Zack stood up. "Come on."  
  
"How about in the morning?", Gerald asked weakly.  
  
"Dad..." Zack sighed and put a hand on his father's shoulder. "Why wait? You... we both know you're fading. Why don't we just do it now? While we're here together, while we have the time?"  
  
The elder Carrey stared at him a moment, deep in thought. A small smile crept across his face. "Sure. Let's go."  
  
  
  
  
Angelo was sitting at a computer station in one of the Centre's server rooms. "They know," he muttered. "They know. They've blocked things."  
  
Angel fired a shot, hiding behind her cloak so she could get good shots off without worrying about return fire, and sent down the last of the guards who had responded to their breach of the server room. She looked back from the door. "Didn't Jarod give you something for that?"  
  
"He said it was to copy. I don't want to waste it," Angelo murmured.  
  
"Knowing Jarod that's not a worry. Plug it in and let's get out of here!"  
  
Angelo fidgeted with an item. Angel glanced and recognized it as a Darglan-tech data slip attached to a USB port. "Too nervous," Angelo complained. "Can't work. Can't work like this."  
  
"We're almost done, Angelo. Then we'll be gone. You'll never see the Centre again."  
  
Angelo stuttered something and plugged the device in. A light came on at the end and started blinking. "It's doing something."  
  
Angel looked down at her multidevice. Jarod's data slip was remotely connected to it and showed her the process of the download. It was already at three percent.  
  
The door opened and more armed men came in, these holding submachine guns. "Angelo, down!", she shouted, squeezing off a shot. Fire converged on her location and bullets began to strike her protective field. She fired another shot, striking one of the men in the shoulder, before taking cover. A glance at her device showed her shield strength down to 90%. She looked around the side and triggered another shot, taking cover again before the two remaining armed men could focus on her. Her device showed more entering the server room. A fireteam was moving to flank her. She checked the download again. _Twenty percent. Come on, hurry up._  
  
"I'm scared!", Angelo wailed.  
  
"Just stay down, I'll handle this!", she answered. She triggered another shot and took out a man at the door. Fire again converged on the table she was behind. She turned and shot one of the men trying to flank her. _I should just stop shooting and get into punching range_ was one thought she had, but the numbers told her that wouldn't work.  
  
A burst of fire struck at her cover, several bullets striking her field. The blue flare looked to be around nothing to the gunmen, but they continued to fire toward the flare; it was _something_ to shoot at, even if her invisibility was spooking them and making them more conservative than their numbers would have otherwise dictated. She fell back toward Angelo, firing off some shots and pulling him behind another desk to get him into better cover, just by the terminal he'd put Jarod's drive into. He began to cry. "It's too loud!"  
  
Angel checked the data feed. They were over halfway there. She just needed a few more minutes....  
  
She heard clattering on the floor nearby and saw the cylinder come toward them. She barely closed her eyes in time to avoid being blinded by the flashbang, and the light was still so intense that her vision was blurry for several seconds. _I should have brought a headset_ , she thought ruefully. Angelo squirmed, having looked directly into the grenade went it went off.  
  
There was a rushing of feet as the guards approached on all fronts at once. Angel brought her gun up and fired as quickly as she could, changing targets as she needed to avoid flanking. Four went down before the remaining six retreated back to cover.  
  
She glanced at the multi-device again. Seventy-two percent. _Can't this thing go any faster?!_ She fired another shot at one of the men, hitting him.  
  
The man across from him used the opening to throw another grenade before she shot him as well.  
  
This time it skittered to within six feet of them and began hissing. Thick gray smoke erupted from the canister, Another grenade fell even closer and created another plume of smoke. As the first wisps came into contact with her, Angel felt her eyes start to water and began coughing. _I really should have brought a helmet_ , she lamented. She reached to her belt and grabbed an emergency breatther to strap over her mouth and nose, but she was still coughing. The damage was done, so to speak.  
  
She checked the device download again. This time it was at eighty-two percent. _I don't think I can make it that long._ She could hear them moving ahead and fired shots into the smoke. One thump told her she'd made at least one hit. "Angel to _Rio Grande_ , get us out of here, _now_."  
  
She fired another shot, hitting another of the Centre Tac team. But the transporter didn't take her as she expected. "Lucy?! I need a beamout!"  
  
  
  
  
Angel's voice echoed in the cabin. Lyle grinned slyly. "Looks like your friend is in trouble," he remarked. "She didn't happen to go help that retard Angelo, did she? Of course she did. Going into Centre HQ... that was... stupid." Lyle shook his head.  
  
"You're awfully chatty," Jarod remarked. Even with the gun set to stun, he knew that a point blank shot to the head could still inflict damage and even kill. "Having trouble staying in control, Lyle?"  
  
"Three years, Jarod," Lyle hissed. "Three long years looking for you, turning over every rock, hunting down every contact you ever made. But no traces of you. None. We looked around the world for you! And every passing day I had the Centre getting angrier and angrier. The Triumvirate was ready to kill us all! All because of you!"  
  
"Too bad."  
  
"You'll think it's too bad when they get their hands on you," Lyle answered. "And your new friend here." He smirked at Lucy, who was glaring at him. "Honey, you backed the wrong horse. Don't worry, the Centre won't hurt you. Not if Jarod here cooperates."  
  
"Go to hell," Lucy replied. She eyed the gun and wondered if she could get close enough to pull it out of Lyle's hand.  
  
"On second thought, I can just shoot you." Lyle briefly pointed the gun at her before putting it back to Debbie's forehead. The little girl was weeping quietly, so paralyzed by terror she could do nothing else. "So here's what we're going to do, Jarod. We're going to leave here and call the Centre up. And then we're going to wait for an extraction team."  
  
At that, Jarod began laughing. "Really, Lyle? You have no clue where we are, do you?"  
  
"There's not anywhere on the whole damned planet the Centre can't get a team too, Jarod, and you know that."  
  
"But I still disappeared on you." Jarod smiled widely. "I've got a little secret for you, Lyle. You couldn't find me because I _wasn't on Earth anymore_. Computer, raise viewing shutter."  
  
Beside them, on the starboard side of the runabout, an internal shutter lifted to show a view of space, or rather Earth orbit. North America was spinning below them, twilight starting to reach the Great Plains.  
  
" _Delgado to_ Rio Grande _, please respond!_ "  
  
Lucy wished she could respond without making the situation worse, but she couldn't even reach for her multidevice without Lyle seeing it. She focused on the gun and thought of ways to get to it without hurting Debbie.  
  
Lyle stared at the window and looked back to Jarod. "What is this? Some show?"  
  
"It's no show, Lyle," Jarod answered. "This is a spaceship. You're in space. And..." He pointed to his rank insignia. "I happen to be a crewmember of a very important ship. So even if the Centre gets me back, you're just going to bring more trouble in."  
  
Lyle stared intently. "Land this thing," he finally demanded. "Land it or the girl dies!" He pressed the gun to Debbie's temple again. "You know I'll do it! Land this thing now!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is called home during the New Liberty Colony's anniversary celebrations to see his ill father; Jarod returns to his homeworld to get Sydney and the others away from the Centre.

After the third try Angel couldn't call for help anymore. Two more gas grenades had gone off, obscuring her vision and making her breather work harder to scrub the air. She fired shots blindly into the gas and heard no successes. A figure came barreling out of the smoke, then another, and Angel turned to hand-to-hand combat. This was her preferred way of fighting anyway, but with her lungs burning from the early exposure to tear gas her ability to fight was impaired. Even her cloak wasn't entirely working here, not with her movements resulting in the gas shifting and changing.  
  
She still managed a solid punch on the first attacker and put the second down with a kick. She heard a tone from her multidevice and glanced at it to see that the download had finished. Looking up Angel saw that the light at the end of the slip was now solid. She slipped over the desk and yanked the device out, moving it into her pocket in one solid motion. A Tac team member came through the smoke with his weapon raised. Angel fired her pistol off and sent him down before returning to Angelo.  
  
Gunfire thundered in her ear. She turned with the gun, seeing the blue flares of the bullets striking her protective field, and fired a shot at the two men pouring submachine gun fire into her shields. The first went down and she focused on the second.  
  
Painful impacts slammed into her field uniform as bullets went through her failed personal shield and slammed into her chest and shoulders. The protective fabrics and materials resisted the bullets but the sheer force still sent her down. "Target down!", she heard a man shout. "Tell Raines we have..."  
  
Angel blocked the rest out. She grabbed Angelo, who was nearly unconscious from the tear gas, and stabbed her finger on her multidevice. "Delgado to _Rio Grande_ , Emergency Passcode Delgado Alpha Alpha Tango Foxtrot 29, emergency beamup for two on my device location, now!" It was a risk, since there would be no operator if there was a problem with the transporter, but she was out of options.  
  
The strike team members returned their attention to her. "Put your arms up! Arms where we can see them! Now!"  
  
They were too late, as the _Rio Grande_ 's transporter snatched them away.  
  
  
  
  
The sound of the transporter was heard in the cabin area. "What was that?", Lyle demanded.  
  
"That was Angel coming back," Jarod answered. "A good thing we double-checked the automatic transporter systems, isn't it Lucy?"  
  
"Yeah," Lucy replied, still focused on Lyle's gun. "And she's going to kick your ass for holding that girl hostage."  
  
Angel entered with her gun ready, having heard Lucy. "I don't give a damn who you are, let the girl go or I'm dropping you," Angel remarked angrily.  
  
"Lower your weapon or she dies," Lyle countered. "If you don't think I'll do it, ask Jarod."  
  
"He would," Jarod confirmed. "But then he dies too. He knows that. It's over Lyle. Put the gun down and you can go home, I promise."  
  
"Ha!" Lyle's laugh was harsh. "I can go back to get shot by the Triumvirate? No, the only way I leave this ship is with little Debbie here and Jarod. Or she dies. I am not going to back down."  
  
Jarod drew in a breath and looked to Angel, who kept the gun focused on Lyle. "I saw what your people did to Angelo," Angel replied. "No way in hell I'm letting you win."  
  
Lyle replied with another threat, but Lucy wasn't paying attention anymore. As she thought about how to get the gun, her mind wandered to Djamar Trading Station, where she had been held prisoner and she and Robert first met Meridina. She remembered Meridina's approach to guns pointed at her, namely, literally using her " _swevyra_ " to yank the guns away. _If only I had that_.  
  
 _But you do_ , a part of her mind thought. She thought about Abdyos - the Abdis of R4A1 - and how precisely she had landed the _St. Johns_ without instrumentation. How she could _feel_ what was right. Meridina had even told her that was her " _swevyra_ ", her "life force", working for her.  
  
So if it worked there, why not here?  
  
She looked to the weapon and focused intently. She thought of it flying to her hand. She imagined an invisible force from the depths of her soul, her being, grabbing the weapon and holding the trigger in place so it wouldn't shoot.  
  
For a few moments nothing happened. She focused harder, breathing harder as she did. Lyle noticed her increased breath and looked toward her. As he did, his eyes diverted to his right hand, which was suddenly tremoring. "What....?"  
  
 _It's working!_ Gasping, Lucy made one last great effort to yank at it.  
  
Lyle cried out in surprise as the gun flew from his hand and into Lucy's.  
  
He didn't get the chance to do more. Angel's pulse pistol sent a bolt of azure energy into his chest. Lyle fell over, stunned.  
  
Lucy stood up from where she had been on the floor. Jarod and Angel were looking at her intently, as was Debbie. "Lucy..."  
  
"I... I guess it worked," she muttered.  
  
"How did you do that?", Angel asked in a low voice.  
  
"I, well... I thought about some conversations I had with Meridina," Lucy admitted. "And I remembered that landing on Abydos. I remembered thinking I had some potential and... well... why not try?"  
  
At this point it was too much for Debbie. She ran up to Jarod and started crying. "I want my Daddy!"  
  
Jarod knelt down and embraced her. "We're going to bring him to you now, Debbie. I promise." He looked at Angel. "Angelo?"  
  
"Recovering in the cockpit," she replied. "They used tear gas on us."  
  
"I'd better get to him, then." Jarod picked Debbie up and looked Angel in the eye. "Thanks for getting him out."  
  
"No problem." She smiled and winced. "Well, I'll be tender for a while. My shield failed, I took at least half a clip from an Uzi or something. A good thing we brought our field uniforms."  
  
"Yeah," Jarod agreed. "Definitely a good thing."  
  
"Next time, though, you're issuing me a helmet or no mission."  
  
"Definitely," Jarod promised.  
  
  
  
  
Zack eased the _Susquehanna_ into lunar orbit, ensuring his father had the best view. He sat quietly and allowed Gerald to take in the sight. "Where are the stars?", he finally asked.  
  
"You can't see them in space, there's no atmosphere," Zack explained. He hit a button and stars appeared in the cockpit. "But we set up a little program to show the positions of stars like you're on a planet."  
  
"My God, it's gorgeous."  
  
"So, Dad, ready to walk on the moon?"  
  
That made his dad stare in befuddlement and wonderment. "You're serious."  
  
"Yep." Zack smiled at him. "It'll only take a minute to get you in a suit."  
  
"Then show me the flag," Gerald asked. "I want to see where Armstrong walked."  
  
"Right. Let me bring that up on the history files now, and I'll take us right in."  
  
  
  
  
The two Carreys stood on the moon, the elder looking around in amazement at the sight. "It's so beautiful." Gerald put a hand on Zack's arm. "Do you do things like this all of the time?"  
  
"No," Zack replied. "I live on starships, mostly."  
  
"I understand why you won't come home." Gerald's eyes focused on the distant horizon, where Earth was just starting to creep overhead. "What's it like on other worlds?"  
  
"Well, it's..." Zack searched for the words, not wanting to disappoint his father. "Some worlds aren't any different from Earth. But you can find some that are completely different. And then there are space stations as big as a city. I mean, with thousands, even millions of people living in them. There are more people living in M4P2's Citadel Station than people in New York City, Dad."  
  
"My God..."  
  
For a minute neither man spoke. Gerald seemed to be deep in thought. "You want me to come with you, right?"  
  
Zack nodded, the blue light inside his suit making the movement visible. "At least for the New Liberty celebration. And we can get Leo to examine you and see if there's something he can do."  
  
Gerald stared into the black lunar sky and the distant Earth. "I'll go," he finally said. "Tomorrow, after I get some sleep."  
  
"Dad, we've got beds on the _Susquehanna_."  
  
"Yeah, I saw 'em." Gerald Carrey sighed. "Please, just humor your old man a little? I want to sleep in my own bed before heading off for something like this. As soon as I'm up we'll head out. But I want my bed tonight."  
  
Zack drew in a breath. He didn't like waiting, but he could sense the feelings behind his father's words. He wanted that last night in his bed, in their family home, because he was thinking it could be the last night he'd ever get there. Impatience built within him; here he was, finally reconnecting with his father, and with time running out, but his Dad insisted on waiting over something minor like that.  
  
Although, Zack had to admit, it wasn't very minor. They'd all worked for that house. It was theirs, as a family. He deserved to say goodbye.  
  
"Okay Dad, it's a deal. Let's head on back and get you to bed."  
  
  
  
  
Jarod beamed into Sydney's living room with a captive Lyle and nervous Debbie in tow. Sydney had done as planned, getting Broots and Miss Parker to come to his home. At seeing her father Debbie squealed, "Daddy!" and ran up to him, throwing her arms around his waist.  
  
"Debbie?!" Broots received the hug despite his total shock, still trying to accept seeing three people appear out of thin air.  
  
Sydney showed no surprise, having witnessed the transporter before. Instead he looked to Jarod with worry. "Jarod, where is Nicholas?"  
  
"He's fine. He was hit with a stun level blast by Lyle, so he's being tended to up on the ship."  
  
At that point Miss Parker's befuddlement found outlet in anger. "Just what the hell is going on?! Where in the hell did you come from, how did you...?"  
  
"Transporter system," Jarod answered. He smiled at his old pursuer. "I've been somewhere the Centre can't reach. I came back to give you all a chance to come with me."  
  
Miss Parker stared in bewilderment. "Excuse me?"  
  
"It's not safe here for any of you, or anyone you love," Jarod pointed out. "The Centre has lost control, and now that we've stung them like this they'll be looking for someone to punish."  
  
Broots lifted his daughter into his arms. "You don't need to convince me. I'll go anywhere and do anything to keep Debbie safe." He kissed his weeping daughter on the forehead, tears pouring from his eyes as well.  
  
"And what about my father?", Miss Parker asked. "Are you going to let him go too?"  
  
The question was sharp, and it had reason to be. Mr. Parker was an official of the Centre who had a vested interest in capturing Jarod, and Jarod knew the old man had done terrible things.  
  
"Would he be willing to leave the Centre behind?"  
  
Jarod's pointed question prompted silence in the room that lasted quite a while. Since the answer was evident to all, Sydney pointed out, "Miss Parker, we don't have a choice. The Triumvirate will come for us now, no matter what we say or do."  
  
Miss Parker had tears in her eyes, showing the conflict inside of her. She knew Sydney was right. But she was also loyal to her father. The two forces were in soul-grinding conflict. Her hand reached to the small of her back and pulled out her gun, which she leveled at Jarod. "I could solve all of this by shooting you," she said to him.  
  
Jarod shook his head. "You can't."  
  
"Try me!"  
  
"No, I mean you really can't," he explained. "I have a defense shield that protects me from modern small arms fire."  
  
"You have to be nuts to think I'd believe something so ridiculous..."  
  
"As ridiculous as appearing out of nowhere?", Jarod answered. "You'd be surprised what our technology lets us do."  
  
Even as he said it, he knew it wouldn't stop her. Miss Parker pulled the trigger.  
  
The shots made Debbie cry out and cling on to her father more tightly. Flashes of blue light briefly flared about an inch from Jarod's chest, joined by the distant tinkling as smashed bullets hit the tile floor. Miss Parker's eyes widened in complete shock. "No way."  
  
"You're all dead."  
  
Everyone looked to where Lyle was on the ground, bound by tie cords on his wrists and ankles. He glared up at them with sheer malice and hate. "Every one of you. You're all failures and the Triumvirate is going to put you down!"  
  
Broots shifted himself to move his daughter away from Lyle. "You let Jarod beat you, Lyle. Do you think they're going to be happy with you?"  
  
"Not when they have the proof of what Jarod can do! I'll convince them!"  
  
"They'll..."  
  
Before Broots could finish Jarod cut in. "They probably will. My friend Angel used this technology to shoot her way through the Centre."  
  
All the eyes in the room widened. "You attacked the Centre?!", Miss Parker asked in a heated voice.  
  
"I had to get Angelo out. And all of their data. They'll know what we took by now."  
  
"They already do," Sydney said. He stood by the window and looked out of it. "A van just pulled in two houses up the street. I think it's a team. They must know I'm involved with you again, Jarod."  
  
"We're out of time," Jarod said to Miss Parker. "Come with us. _Please._ "  
  
With all of the eyes on her, Miss Parker glanced around and looked like a tension wire ready to snap. Recognizing her conflict, Lyle spoke up again. "Daddy can't save you know, little girl," he taunted. "He'll be just as dead as you will."  
  
Jarod looked out the window himself. Men came from the van. With their long coats and the way they moved, he knew they were armed.  
  
"I can't leave my father to get blamed," Miss Parker insisted.  
  
Jarod looked to Sydney, who nodded. He reached into his belt. "I know." As soon as he turned he brought his pulse pistol up and fired. The shot hit Miss Parker in the belly, causing her to double over and fall unconscious. "I'm sorry."  
  
"We'll get you one day, Jarod," Lyle rasped. "Do you hear me?! We'll get you! The Centre will destroy you and everything you love for attacking us!"  
  
Jarod frowned and stunned him as well. He walked over to where Miss Parker was collapsed on the ground and picked her up. His hand hit his multidevice. "Jarod to _Rio Grande_ , five to beam up."  
  
He heard the door get busted in and a male voice demand surrender. The next moment, the transporter whisked them all away, leaving Lyle for the Centre to deal with.  
  
Somehow, Jarod suspected, it would have been more merciful if he'd set his pistol to kill when shooting Lyle that last time.  
  
  
  
  
Lucy was sitting in the helm chair as the transporter fired one last time. Jarod stepped off with Broots. Debbie sprung from her chair beside Angel and latched onto her father, forcing him to shift the trash bag of family mementos from his apartment. "Are we going to a new home, Daddy?"  
  
"Yes we are," he answered happily.  
  
Jarod stepped into the central area of the runabout's control area. "Get ready to break from orbit, Lucy," he said before looking down at where Angelo was seated. Color had begun to return to Angelo's face and he looked less apprehensive on seeing Jarod. "How are you doing?"  
  
He smiled at Jarod. "Okay. I feel better." He opened his hand to show the data drive device Jarod had beamed down to him when this began. "Got it," he said. "For us."  
  
"Thank you," Jarod answered as Angelo handed him the data device. "I think we can get you the help you need."  
  
"Even if you can't..." The words were almost stuttered. Angelo struck Lucy as having development issues. "...free. I'm free. Not going back to the Centre."  
  
"Never again," Jarod promised. He gave the man a hug. "If you're tired, we've got cots in the back."  
  
"I want to see the spaceship fly," Angelo answered. "Fly through the stars!"  
  
"I think we can arrange that." Jarod looked to Lucy. "Take us home."  
  
Lucy nodded and activated the warp drive.  
  
  
  
  
A chime went off in the guest quarters, rousing _Mastrash_ Karesl from his rest. He sat up on the bed and, with a gesture of his hand, applied enough life force against the comm button to make it activate. "Yes?"  
  
One of the _Aurora_ officers, a night shift ops officer, answered, " _Sir, someone from Gersal is trying to reach you. Would you like me to put them through?_ "  
  
"Please do that." Karesl turned in his bed to face the wall monitor. The face that appeared was his age, with a full gray beard where he was cleanshaven. " _Mastrash_ Goras?"  
  
" _I see you were resting, Karesl. I forgot the time difference._ " The look on his face made clear that he probably hadn't. " _What have you found?_ "  
  
"At least one of the crew of this ship have great _swevyra'se_ potential," Karesl confirmed.  
  
" _I see. And has Meridina done anything about this?_ "  
  
"Nothing."  
  
That seemed to take Goras by surprise. " _Are you certain, Karesl? She hasn't tried to introduce them to our ways?_ "  
  
"Not from what I ascertain. The officer's _swevyra_ is strong, but untapped, raw. He has not been trained in any way."  
  
Goras seemed to digest this news unhappily. " _How unexpected. Ledosh has undoubtedly made his will known to her._ "  
  
"Likely. She is rather certain that they are from the Prophecy."  
  
" _Foolishness. Ledosh has poisoned her mind. The man is too clever by far. And I had been hoping to have something to show to the Council._ "  
  
"Give it time, _Mastrash_ ," Karesl replied. "Sooner or later, things will develop as they should."  
  
" _I hope it comes sooner, my friend. Every day the Alliance's hold on the hearts of our people grows. Gersal must be diverted from this path of dependency._ "  
  
"It will come. I know it in my heard, _Mastrash_. Our evidence will come. And we will succeed in convincing the people to withdraw." Karesl nodded. "And that way our people will be saved."  
  
" _Let us hope so, Karesl. Let us hope that blasted prophecy does not come true after all. It could be the end of everything..._ "  
  
" _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , Goras."  
  
"Mi rake sa swevyra iso _, Karesl. Make your_ swevyra _give you helpful visions as you dream._ " Goras' image disappeared from the screen.  
  
Karesl breathed in a sigh and laid back on the bed to resume his rest.  
  
  
  
  
The following morning Zack woke up feeling content, even refreshed. For the first time in years he thought he and his Dad had a real bond and that things were going to be farther. He knew it hadn't been easy for Gerald Carrey to admit to mistakes and the fact that he had...  
  
 _It's for the better. We'll be a family again. We'll be a real family again._  
  
After getting a glass of milk to wet his throat a little, Zack walked into the living room to go into the bedroom hall beyond - his old room had been behind the garage while his parents' room was on the other end of the house. He stopped for a moment to see Clara still asleep on the sofa. He knew she'd gone to bed weeping and felt bad at lashing out at her. He wasn't sure how to handle whatever feelings he had for her, but...  
  
"I'm sorry, Clara. I'll make it up to you," he whispered. As he gently put the sheet back on her from where it'd fallen off during the night, he wondered about his father urging him to consider Clara as a partner. He could see why. He wondered if he should. It wasn't like Julia was going to...  
  
No. He wasn't going to think about Julia today. Today was about him and his Dad. He'd handle that re-opened wound when he came to it.  
  
Zack finished the glass of milk and went into the bedroom. He knew his Dad had been through a long night, but with the sun out and bright it seemed like he'd be up or ready to get up. He knocked at the door. "Dad! It's almost nine in the morning, Dad." When there was no grumbling or shouts from the other end he opened the door. "Dad..."  
  
He focused on his father on the bed, dead to the world. Drawing in a sigh Zack took the five steps to the side of the bed and...  
  
...noticed the blue lips and colorless skin of his father.  
  
And every dream he'd had since returning from their flight to the Moon drained away.  
  
Right away Zack knew it was too late for anything. He'd seen enough dead bodies over the past few years, of people he and the others were too late to save. But a part of him rejected this. "Dad!", he called out, putting his hand on his father's bare shoulder and pushing at it. His body was rigid and his skin cold. " _Dad! **DAD!**_ "  
  
In the living room Clara jolted upright in the sofa at hearing Zack's anguished voice. She ran into the bedroom and found him laying over the bed, holding his dead father and crying.  
  
  
  
  
It took twenty minutes for paramedics to get there. They hadn't been in too big a hurry since it had been clear that there was no one to save. The lead paramedic, a face Zack barely remembered from school, took Gerald's vitals and pronounced him to be dead. The deputies for the county sheriff came next. They were polite. Zack remembered one as a common face at the high school baseball games he'd played in. They asked how he'd found his father. And they asked about the previous night. Zack explained their outing.  
  
"Wait, you flew your Dad to the _Moon_?!", one of them asked, incredulous.  
  
"My runabout's right out front," Zack said weakly. "I can show you the footage if you want."  
  
Naturally they wanted to, and they wanted copies. Zack took them out to the _Susquehanna_ and let them watch the ship's flight log and external log from the moonwalk. He replicated a DVD-format disc with the records on it as well as their life sign readings during the excursion.  
  
This satisfied them enough that they said nothing while the coroner secured Gerald. Zack kissed his father's forehead before the bag was zipped up and he was taken out.  
  
He stumbled into the living room and collapsed into his Dad's recliner. Clara walked up to him. "Zack, if you need anything..."  
  
"Not now, Clara," he said weakly. "Not now. I've... I've got things to do now, so many things..."  
  
  
  
  
Everyone on the _Rio Grande_ was watching as a transport ship, responding to Jarod's request, opened the jump point back home for them. The runabout accelerated through the point and found the _Aurora_ waiting for them on the other end. "How big is that thing?"  
  
Jarod looked to Broots. "A kilometer long, over three hundred meters wide, a hundred meters tall. I helped build it. Not in a big way, but enough to be proud of her."  
  
"She's beautiful, Jarod, you should be proud," Sydney assured him. He looked away while Angel secured landing permission, finding Miss Parker standing by herself near the cabin door. He took the three steps from where he was to where she was standing. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I still can't believe this. This is insane, Sydney. This is so completely insane."  
  
"It's a shock," Sydney agreed. "But Jarod has done us a favor. The Centre was going to come for us soon, even if he hadn't come back. You have to know that."  
  
"And what about my father, Sydney? What do you think Raines or the Triumvirate will do to _him_?"  
  
Sydney shook his head. "I can't be sure. Mister Parker is an exceptional man, however. He has a knack for survival and I'm sure he will find a way."  
  
"it's not good enough, though," she muttered. "Not nearly good enough. And now we get to be Jarod's pets."  
  
"Would you rather go back?"  
  
The question was pointed and direct. Miss Parker remained quiet for a moment. "Sure, Sydney. I'll go back and take a bullet to the head. It'll be nice and quick." She put a hand on her forehead. "Dammit, i need a cigarette."  
  
Their conversation ended as the ship landed in the _Aurora_ shuttle bay. "And we're home," Angel sighed. "With a day to spare."  
  
"To spare for what?", Debbie asked.  
  
"The third anniversary celebration for the New Liberty Colony," Jarod explained. You're all invited. It'll be fun."  
  
"Yippee," Miss Parker grumbled.  
  
  
  
  
With appropriate phone calls made to long-distant family that Zack never really liked, he started packing up mementos and family valuables, taking the ones he planned on keeping to the _Susquehanna_ and setting aside the other ones for his cousins. His father had made being in a family tough, but most Carreys were familiar with the problems of alcohol and that side, at least, would be coming in over the next several days for his father's service.  
  
Working like this had the advantage that it was something to do, something to get his mind off of the pain in his heart. Two days ago he wondered if he'd ever see his father alive again and wasn't sure he wanted to; now he'd had the hope of a better relationship with him and now... now there was nothing.  
  
It was in the early afternoon when Zack was setting a box of pictures in the _Susquehanna_ , just to hear the comm system go off. Before he could get to the station it relayed to his multidevice, allowing him to answer on it. "Hello," he answered.  
  
" _Hey Zack._ " It was Julia. " _The big day is tomorrow, I was wondering if you were going to make it back?_ "  
  
"I... I don't know," he admitted. His voice caught in his throat and he could see her expression shift to concern. He forced himself to find his voice. "Julie, my Dad died this morning."  
  
He could hear her gasp through the comm link. " _Oh God. I'm so sorry, Zack. I'm... I'm sorry. Is there anything we can do?_ "  
  
"Tell everyone I probably won't make it to the celebration," he replied. "I've got to get things set up. I've got papers to sign, family to contact... a funeral to plan. That kind of thing."  
  
" _I'll let everyone know. We'll all be there for you._ "  
  
"Thanks," he answered. "I'll appreciate that. Carrey out." He ended the call.  
  
And then, because he felt the pain coming back, he went back to work.  
  
  
  
  
Meridina was pleased that the second day of touring for Karesl went smoothly. So smoothly that he had opted to return planetside, requiring only a brief trip back to the assigned quarters before escorting him to a transporter room. "Is this what you believe is our future, Meridina?", Karesl asked.  
  
"Yes," she answered.  
  
"You should be the commander of this vessel. Being a mere subordinate is beneath your abilities."  
  
"No, _Mastrash_ , it is not," was her reply. "I am doing an important service in this post and I wish to continue that."  
  
"I wish I could convince you otherwise, Meridina." Karesl shook his head. "Should a wedge ever come between our people and the Allied Systems, you may regret this choice."  
  
"Then I must prevent such a wedge from forming." Meridina tried to control her apprehension. Was he warning her of a plot of some sort? Or was it simple talk? She couldn't tell. He was always hard for her to read.  
  
"Somehow I'm not sure your efforts alone would suffice."  
  
She chose not to continue the conversation.  
  
When they arrived at the transporter room Meridina was quite surprised to see Jarod there, standing near the transporter operator with Lucy and Angel. A number of people were nearby wearing clothes Meridina associated with Robert and the others; clearly they were from Jarod's Earth. "Lieutenant Draynal already has the paperwork," Jarod said to her. "They're going to meet with Beth today about getting emergency residency set up."  
  
"I am pleased you returned unhurt, Commander," Meridina said.  
  
" _He_ did, I'm the one who got shot at," Angel complained, but with a sardonic smile.  
  
Meridina nodded at her before looking to the transporter operator. "Chief Mayga, are they in the queue ahead of my scheduled transport."  
  
"No ma'am," the tan-skinned Gersallian woman replied. "The _Mastrash_ is clear to beam down first."  
  
Meridina nodded and looked to her father, who was looking at Lucy. Lucy clearly noticed the look and gave it back. "Can I help you, sir?", she asked.  
  
"Nothing, Lieutenant. I was simply enjoying the sense of happiness I feel here. It is good to see positive thoughts like that, it makes _swevyra_ stronger." Karesl stepped up onto the pad. " _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , Meridina."  
  
" _Mi rake sa swevyra iso_ , _Mastrash_ Karesl," Meridina replied, bowing slightly. "Chief, energize."  
  
After Karesl disappeared Sydney turned to Jarod. "I'm not sure I've ever heard a language like that before. Where are they from?"  
  
"Gersal," Jarod replied. "They're not Humans."  
  
"But they look..."  
  
"Convergent evolution, Sydney." Jarod nodded to Meridina. "Sorry if we got in your way, Commander. I'm going down with them as an advocate."  
  
"Robert is already on the planet, Commander Jarod, I'm sure he'll provide assistance," she answered. "And I suspect Commander Andreys will gladly invite them to join us for the celebration tomorrow."  
  
"She already did," Jarod replied. He stepped up on the transporter platform. Debbie almost dragged her father into place beside him. Angel was the lst to step up, standing beside Miss Parker. "Energize."  
  
  
  
  
Clara had gone part of the day to report to the nursing service she worked for and file the paperwork on Gerald Carrey's death. When she returned she found Zack sitting in his bed, a box of family photos on his lap and one framed photo in his hands. "Dad used to be good at controlling the habit," he remarked quietly. "I mean, up until I was about twelve I thought we had the happiest family you could have. I didn't know how badly my mother's family hated him, or how his family felt about him. I hadn't learned about our little family problem."  
  
"He wanted to be a good Dad," Clara said. "He just couldn't control it."  
  
"He must have talked a lot with you," Zack said quietly.  
  
"I sort of started it," Clara admitted. "I mean,,, yeah, I started it because of you. I was hoping he would tell me why you had left. He was mad at you about it and said some, well..."  
  
"Don't worry about it." Zack shook his head. "I'm just happy he had someone to talk to." After taking in a breath that sounded like a sigh, he continued, "I've always wanted to hate him. Well, I've actually felt a lot of hate for him. But I wish... Clara, it's just so complicated. Dad ruined my baseball career. He drove mother sick. He feuded with everyone. He made my life miserable." With tears at the corners of his eyes, Zack stopped for a moment. "But he was my Dad. And I know he loved me. And he was ready to be a family again, but I came back too damn late..."  
  
"Zack, you don't have to tear yourself up over it."  
  
He shook his head at that. "Clara, there were days... oh God... there were days where I wanted this," he confessed. "Where I was so tired of his drinking and his put-downs and the contempt and... _I wanted him to die_ , Clara. I just wanted it over with! And now I've gotten that wish when I never..."  
  
If he had expected Clara to react angrily, he was disappointed. All she did was shake her head and set her hand on his shoulder. "You really didn't mean that. Sometimes, Zack, we think things because we're angry and upset, we don't really mean them."  
  
Zack heard her words, but he was already jumping from one shame to the next in his head. He thought of Adrana and how the computer being there had felt, in his heart, a desire to see his friend Robert dead to clear the way for him to be with Julia. He wondered if that thought had grown from his thoughts about his father.  
  
"Clara, I've got a dark side," he admitted. "I've seen it. There's a part of me that would..." He swallowed, unwilling to admit what happened in his head. It was too shameful. "I've come to realize lately that I need to be honest with myself about things. About who I am, what I am. And who I want to be with."  
  
"You mean Julia?", Clara asked quietly. A little too quietly. The quiet tone that indicated disappointment mixed with a feeling of, one would guess, inevitability.  
  
Zack noticed that in her face. "Yeah. I know she's not interested but..."  
  
Clara shook her head at him. "Zack, tell her how you feel."  
  
"I can't."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because I know she'll say no," he answered.  
  
"Oh." Clara gave a gentle nod. "But wouldn't that be better? You know it's not going to happen but you... you're just torturing yourself if you don't get a definite answer. Otherwise you think that maybe, just maybe, they'll say yes in the future. Maybe they'll come to you or something will happen and..."  
  
Zack put a finger to her lips. "Clara, it's okay. You're right that it's something I should consider doing. But I'm going to do it on my time, okay? My time." He put the photo back in the box. "Well, I need to get finished. Got to get the house ready for everyone."  
  
"Your family is actually coming?"  
  
"A few. My dad's only surviving sibling, some of my cousins. Not as many as we have. Dad didn't have many friends in the family." Zack sighed. "And I have to see if there's a minister or pastor willing to hold the service. I'm not looking forward to seeing Pastor Allen again."  
  
"Oh, you won't, he left about fifteen months ago," Clara answered. "We've got some new guy, a young kid from one of the Bible colleges."  
  
"And he never met Dad?"  
  
"Only a couple of times when we asked, when your Dad's condition started getting worse. They got along."  
  
"Good. He'll be more likely to do it then."  
  
Clara's mouth opened slightly. "Um, Zack..."  
  
"Yes?" He looked toward her.  
  
For a moment it seemed like she would ask something, but at the last moment she held off. "Nothing. Just.... I'll talk to you later, okay?"  
  
"Sure." He nodded and watched her go. This freed him to go back into his thoughts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zack is called home during the New Liberty Colony's anniversary celebrations to see his ill father; Jarod returns to his homeworld to get Sydney and the others away from the Centre.

The crowds were gathering and the VIPs coming together for the parade as part of the anniversary celebration of New Liberty Colony. The _Aurora_ crew were not present with them as they were preparing for their part in the parade. The entire command crew save Meridina were taking places on the anti-grav powered float vehicle made up to look like the _Aurora_... if it was made of styrofoam and plaster and rubber.  
  
It provided the perfect opportunity for Jarod, at least, as he finished walking up the steps to the main platform of the float with Sydney, Nicholas, and almost everyone else behind him. Only Miss Parker was not in attendance, brooding instead in the apartment that Beth Rankin had signed off for her.  
  
"Everyone, I would like you to meet Sydney. He's the closest thing I've had to a father," Jarod announced. "He's spent years trying to protect me and guide me. I wouldn't be here today if not for him."  
  
There was applause. "it's great that you got to bring him back this time," Julia said.  
  
"It's an honor, Sydney," Robert added, shaking the older man's hand. "Have you figured out what you intend to do?"  
  
"Oh, there is so much I have to learn now," Sydney admitted, smiling slightly. "But I imagine Manager Rankin will find some use of my education."  
  
"Oh, I know she will," Robert answered. He felt a pull at his uniform and looked down at Broots' daughter. "Yes?"  
  
"I wanna go back to the spaceship," Debbie asked.  
  
"You'll get to visit tonight," Robert promised.  
  
"I'll take care of their tour," Jarod said. He stopped and lowered his head. "I heard about Zack. Are we...?"  
  
"We're invited to the funeral," Robert answered. "I got permission this morning to take the _Aurora_. To make it work, President Morgan made us the official transport for the dignitaries of the governments attending here. We'll be there for Zack when he needs us."  
  
"I look forward to meeting your friend," Sydney said. "I understand the grief he's going through, so if I can help in any way, you just have to ask."  
  
"Thanks for that," Robert said. He noticed a figure signalling to him from nearby. "And that's our cue. Seats, everyone. The parade is about to start!"  
  
  
  
  
With the bedrooms cleaned out and the things Zack didn't want arranged to be presented to the rest of the family, Zack suddenly found himself alone in the Carrey home. Painful silence told of nothing to distract him from the pain he was having to face.  
  
He tried to eat, but couldn't. He tried some of the grape juice in the fridge, but the taste was bland. He checked the television for something, anything, to distract him.  
  
He stopped after finding a baseball game. Remembering what he had almost had, what his father had cost him, made it too painful.  
  
Zack returned to cleaning. Just normal cleaning. He never liked cleaning, but it was something to do. Something that felt right to do. The laundry room was cleared up and the kitchen and the back storeroom...  
  
He opened one box and found, unsurprisingly, his father's booze stash. He wouldn't have been able to help himself, Zack knew. He'd find ways to get some. Zack brought the box into the kitchen, intending to pour every drop into the sink. He pulled the first bottle out, a bottle of bourbon, and stared at it.  
  
He had always felt like his father drank because he liked it, that being drunk was a state that the elder Carrey somehow, inexplicably, liked. But he knew better now. Gerald Carrey had kept going back to the bottle because it was his way to deal with the pain and frustration of every day life. He insisted that it made the pain go away.  
  
Zack found himself opening the bottle. He smelled the booze and, even as instinctive revulsion filled him, continued to consider it. And for a moment, he thought about pouring a glass.  
  
Just a moment.  
  
With more will than he thought he'd have to muster, Zack brought the bottle up to the sink and poured its contents out.  
  
  
  
  
Jarod and Angel had come down to bring up the others for their tour of the _Aurora_. The others were already on their way to the nearest transporter, leaving only Miss Parker who was still locked up in her apartment. Jarod knocked at the door. "Any plans tonight after the tour?"  
  
"A couple," she admitted. "I always do something special for the anniversary."  
  
The door slid open and Parker stood at it, her arms crossed. "Your people need better cigarettes," she complained, holding one. "This... this thing is horrible!"  
  
"You're going into nicotine withdrawal," Jarod told her.  
  
" _Noooo_ ," she reacted sarcastically.  
  
"Replicated cigarettes only put in a chemical nicotine substitute at a low concentration," Angel added. "It's so people don't get addicted."  
  
"I'm already addicted," Miss Parker complained.  
  
"I noticed," Angel replied. "The local doctors can write you an authorization for a nicotine patch to wean off the substance."  
  
"Or you can simply ask them for more, but I wouldn't count on it," Jarod added.  
  
"And this is supposed to be your great utopia of freedom," she grumbled.  
  
"I'm sure there's replicator patterns with more nicotine in them out there," Angel pointed out. "Just look."  
  
"We're about to leave for the tour, by the way," Jarod added.  
  
"Why?" Miss Parker's face curled into an angry smile. "So you can show me off like a trophy? 'Here's the evil Miss Parker who hunted me, and she'd be dead if I hadn't shot her', right? _No thanks Jarod._ "  
  
Jarod took in a breath and looked to Angel. "That's her answer. I tried."  
  
"You did," Angel conceded. "Go on. I need to ask her something. Woman to woman."  
  
Miss Parker sneered at Angel while Jarod stepped away. Angel saw him head down the stairs and turned back to Miss Parker. She brought a hand up. "I don't care what you do with your life, lady. Go smoke until you get lung cancer, find a life, whatever. But I'm letting you know this now."  
  
"What?", Miss Parker asked, a hint of exaggerated tiredness to her.  
  
Angel cleared her face of all emotion. "Jarod is a part of my crew. He's a part of my family now. And if you do _anything_ to harm him, I'm going to kill you." She turned. "If you can't be nice or even gratefu;l, Miss Parker, just stay away from Jarod. Or I'll make you regret it."  
  
Miss Parker said nothing as Angel walked away. She closed the door behind her and went up to her desk. A private computer system came alive at her fingertips. She had a lot of learning to do.  
  
A lot of learning, if she was ever going to adapt to this whole new "world" that Jarod had dragged her into... so that she could drag Jarod right back to her father.  
  
  
  
  
Goras was quiet as Karesl finished his report. " _So you have found a second._ "  
  
"Yes," Karesl answered. "But I had no opportunity to interview her. I do know she has used her _swevyra_ lately, I could feel the power having surfaced within her."  
  
" _But not enough to prove Meridina has trained her?_ "  
  
"It wasn't that strong."  
  
" _So you say._ "  
  
Karesl's expression tightened at the tone. "She may be my daughter by blood, Goras, but you know I will not protect her. Do not insult me with such suspicion."  
  
Goras accepted the rebuke with a nod. " _Very well. You are correct, Karesl. You will be returning?_ "  
  
"Within the standard week."  
  
" _Good. The Council looks forward to your final report._ " Goras terminated the line.  
  
Karesl shifted in his seat. He knew his daughter had not trained Lieutenant Lucy Lucero, but he wondered if that extended to Meridina talking to Lucero about it.  
  
 _You have resisted your passions enough to not train them, Meridina, and in recognition of that I will accept what has happened so far. But my patience runs only so long..._  
  
  
  
  
Robert was sitting quietly in his quarters. Without anything else his mind went back to Zack. He could only imagine the emotions sweltering in his friend at losing his father. While old man Carrey had been an unpleasant man usually, he was still Zack's father. _How did they last speak? Was it a fight? Were they mending the fence? I think either will tear Zack's heart to pieces._  
  
Desperate to get his mind off of things, Robert brought up reports for the day and the paperwork that had to be filed before they departed to his "home" Earth in the morning. He had made his way through some of the paperwork when his door chime went off. "Come in," he called out.  
  
The door slid open and Angel entered, wearing her duty uniform. "The tour's over. Debbie was falling asleep before we even got to Engineering."  
  
He smiled thinly in reply. "Yeah. Well, it's a big ship, and she had an exciting day. I've already asked Beth about making sure they all have work."  
  
"Good. I think it'll make Jarod rest a little easier."  
  
"But only a little. He still has to find his family." Robert sighed and finished the final line of paperwork, using a digital stencil to put his signature on it. He stood up and walked around his small desk. "So, want a snack from the Lookout or something?"  
  
Angel's smile curved with amusement. "I was wondering about something else. I mean, I've got all of these bruises from the bullets hitting my field uniform, I could use some... gentle attention to them."  
  
Robert remained quiet for a moment, even as she drew up on him. "Angel, I think this..."  
  
"We always spend the night of the anniversary together," she reminded him. "Why not tonight?"  
  
"Well..."  
  
"Robert... I almost got _killed_ ," Angel pointed out, a little heatedly. "If they'd gotten closer and got a shot at my head, I would be gone. Any of us could be gone. We almost lost Zack and Jarod and Cat last month. And remember how close Abydos was, and the freaking Nazis and the Cardassians..." Angel took his hands. "We could die out here. Why worry about something like this? If it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out."  
  
"Angel, I'm your boss now, I'm a superior officer..."  
  
"You're alone. And... just this once, Rob? Can't we try?" She pressed herself against him. "So we don't regret anything?"  
  
He considered saying no again. He almost did. But Robert looked into her intense hazel eyes and felt his resistance wane. For all of his feelings in other directions, he could still feel some of them for Angel, and after all of the bumps they'd taken this year her points found ready ground in his heart.  
  
They could die tomorrow, so why not live a little today?  
  
Gently, reluctantly, Robert pressed his lips against Angel's mouth and allowed a kiss to begin.  
  
  
  
  
Down the hall, Jarod sat quietly in his quarters with a drink at his table and an unfinished late snack of a pastry from Hargert's kitchen. The screen showed a slice of the data he'd gotten from Angelo and Angel's raid on the Centre. He already knew some of this stuff. Some was new. It'd take him time to go through it, given his duties.  
  
But it'd be done. Because within this data he knew he had the clues he needed to find his parents and his sister... and the means to destroy the Centre once and for all.  
  
  
  
  
The _Aurora_ crew's "return home" was a subdued one. They'd gotten weird looks when they beamed straight to the church where Pastor Allen's replacement, Pastor Everett, was holding the service. Zack had gotten hugs from them all in turn. As he accepted Jarod's, he said, "I heard you got your mentor to safety."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I'm happy for you."  
  
The service was long enough. At the right time Zack stepped up to the podium. "Sometimes I hated him," Zack finally admitted. "I hated his flaws. We...he wasn't the best father and I wasn't the best son. But I think he tried. He was fighting something and it... he couldn't fight it all the time. And it hurt him as much as it hurt us. I... at least we.... I got to make him smile one last time. I..."  
  
And then he stopped. The pain was too much. He'd made his Dad smile again, yes. But everything they'd talked about that night, to and from the Moon where his father had always dreamed to walk... none of it would happen now. He'd never show his Dad New Liberty, or the Amethyst Cliffs of Jeli, the Rings of Carina, or any of the other beautiful sights the Multiverse would have offered him.  
  
He'd finally gotten his father back... and had lost him for good before they could do anything about it.  
  
As he broke down, two figures jumped from the front seat. Julia was intent on getting to his side and helping her distraught friend, but Clara was faster. She took Zack into her arms and helped him away from the podium, unable to stop his weeping.  
  
After the service Zack took up his place as a pallbearer. Only one cousin would join him, leaving the other spots for his friends. Robert stood behind him, Julia across from Robert, and Tom Barnes and Angel took up the rear. The procession brought the casket out to the Herse vehicle, from which it was driven to the cemetery.  
  
Clara took whomever she could in her car to be part of the procession, with Zack seated beside her. The rest waited until they arrived and beamed over in the _Aurora_. Their presence was not commented on by the other mourners; everyone knew what they were, and all remained quiet for the moment in respect for the deceased. Another service was held at the grave, with a hymn and prayers as they prepared to lower Gerald Carrey to join Zack's mother. The entire time, Zack found Clara's hand still holding his.  
  
By the time it was over, Zack felt like he had nothing left, like his very tear-ducts were exhausted. He accepted final condolences from the handful of attendees. The others went to a chosen beam out point.  
  
Before he went to join them, Clara grasped his arms. "I'm so sorry for you, Zack," she said. "If you need anything, you can call."  
  
"Thanks, Clara." His voice felt hoarse. "Listen, Clara... I'm sorry if I've hurt you by refusing to come back."  
  
"Don't," she urged him. "You have a wonderful life out there. I'd never want you to give that up."  
  
He nodded. "Thanks."  
  
"You're welcome. Now get back out there, astronaut boy." Clara winked at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. With her mouth close to his ears, she whispered, "And talk to Julia. When you're ready."  
  
"I will," he promised, putting his arms around her in a hug. "Take care of yourself."  
  
"I will. See you around, Zack."  
  
Clara Davis stood quietly and watched as Zack returned to his friends. They all waved back to him and, in pillars of light, disappeared into thin air. She breathed and wondered what that felt like.  
  
"I don't want you to come home," she sighed. "I want you to stay out there, Zack. Because I'm _coming too_."  
  
It would take a little time, but she'd make her way out into the stars too. And maybe.... maybe he'd feel the same way as she did by the time they met again. And they'd have a life together out there, on distant worlds.  
  
  
  
  
 **Tag**  
  
  
A persistent chirp came over the comm line, forcing Robert to wake up. He turned in bed and smacked the receiver, noting the time as he did so. "It's zero three fifty," he protested. "What is it?"  
  
" _Rob... I mean, Captain!_ " The eager voice could only be Caterina's. " _I need to see you in Astrography_ now! _It's important!_ "  
  
"How important?"  
  
" _It's big! It's really big, it's..._ "  
  
"I'm coming, I'm coming," he protested. "I'll be there in five minutes."  
  
As soon as the channel cut, Robert turned in the bed again. His hand reached out and touched Angel's bare shoulder as she opened her eyes sleepily. "Go back to sleep, Rob," she complained.  
  
"Can't. Your sister says she found something important."  
  
"I'll punish her later," Angel yawned.  
  
"Go back to sleep. I'll find out what's going on."  
  
Getting out of bed and allowing Angel to pull the sheets back over herself, Robert pulled on his duty uniform and ventured out into the ship. At the turbolift he was met by Julia. "She called you too?"  
  
"Yeah," Julia muttered. "If it's not important, I may have to suspend her off-duty lab access for a month."  
  
"Two."  
  
"I'll compromise at three." They stepped into the lift.  
  
"Computer, Deck 12, Astrography." He paused. "Good. It's a deal. Four months ban from off-duty access."  
  
The sleepy duo got into astrography and found Caterina and Barnes sitting at the main controls with Jarod standing nearby. "You beat us here?", Robert asked Jarod.  
  
"I was already here," Jarod answered. "Cat had me double check their readings." He frowned at seeing their looks. "I guess I should have called you instead."  
  
"We'll punish you later," Julia joked... well, half-joked. "So, what is so important that you had to wake us up?"  
  
"I think I found another Darglan facility!", Cat squealed.  
  
That jolted both to something approaching wakefulness. "What?!", Robert asked, incredulous.  
  
"I've been running a search algorithm through the fleet's sensor logs," Cat explained. "Looking for the signs of dimensionally transcendental fields in operation. And I found a number of positive sensor readings! So I..."  
  
"...called my ass down to double-check, since I'd been doing so much work examining the one we had in the Facility," Barnes continued. "And yeah, it's the real deal. We just have to narrow down a system due to the sensor shadow the field effect gives off."  
  
"And I double-checked all of their findings to make sure we didn't have a false positive." Jarod tapped a nearby screen, showing two wavelengths. "Sensor readings of the Facility's signature and this one from the logs. They match within a reasonable margin of error. It's got to be a related phenomenon."  
  
Robert hovered over Caterina and Barnes' shoulders as they brought up the data display on their screens, showing even more matching data. "And we think we can narrow it down to one of these systems," Cat said. The Astrography hologram shifted to show highlighted systems. "With further scans at closer range we could triangulate a more exact spot to search.  
  
"Are you sure of this?", Robert asked, still reeling from the scope of this discovery.  
  
"Positive," Caterina insisted. "The readings are the same. It's another Darglan Facility."  
  
"And on the other side of the border, too," Julia pointed out in a dark tone.  
  
That prompted everyone's attention back to the astrographical map. The holographic map showed a line running through space with the suspect area entirely on the side opposite of the UAS symbol.  
  
"Oh _hell_ ," Barnes grumbled.  
  
Robert hit his multidevice's comm button. "Dale to Bridge. I need a Priority One channel to Admiral Maran's office, now." His eyes never left the map, focused as they were on the symbol opposite from the UAS torch insignia.  
  
The symbol on the other side was the swastika of the Nazi Reich.  
  
"It's in Nazi space," Robert sighed.  
  
"Let's hope they don't know what they've got there." Julia put a hand on the console, enlarging the map. "It'll be our best shot to beating them to it."


End file.
